Ki9^er<^arl:ei7 Papers. 



f\ /T^ai^ual for 



> • • 



Kindergarten Papers. 



Copyright, 1896, 

BY 

The Butterick Publishing Company (Limited). 



METROPOLITAN CULTURE SERIES. 



^ 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS 



BY 



^ 



SARA MILLER KIRBY. 




FIRST EDITION. 



JUL ^ ^Hl 



V 



^ASi'* 



^»i^ 



'^H^^tV-^"^* 



NEW YORK : 
THE BUTTERICK PUBLISHING COMPANY (Limited), 

1896. 



.K5 




Birthplace of Fkoebel. 



CONTENTS. 



FIRST PAPER. PAGE 

FROEBEL AND HIS PRINCIPLES. 

Biographical — Dawn of the Kindergarten Idea — Based upon Play and Treating 

it in a Systematic Manner — The Three-fold Education. - - " ^5 

SECOND PAPER. 

THE GIFTS EXPLAINED. 

Origin of the Name — Ten in Number — What they Are — Uses of the First 

Gift — Musical Selections to Accompany it. - - - - 22 

THIRD PAPER. 

THE SECOND GIFT. 

Ball, Cube and Cylinder — The Law of Unity — Symbolism — Practical Uses — In 

Connection with Sewing. - - - - - - "33 

FOURTH PAPER. 

THE THIRD GIFT. 

Review of Principles — First of the Building Gifts — Forms of Knowledge — 

Life Sequences — Forms of Beauty — Mrs. Hubbard's Formulae. • - 42 



8 CONTENTS. 

FIFTH PAPER. -- 
THE FOURTH GIFT. 

PAGE. 

A Two-Inch Wooden Cube Divided — Relationship to the Third — Various Se- 
quences — The " Baker " Song — Sequence in Third and Fourth Gifts Com- 
bined. - - - - - - - - "53 

SIXTH PAPER, 

THE FIFTH GIFT. 

A Three-Inch Wooden Cube Divided — Compared with Previous Gifts — The 

new Fraction — Uses — Sequences. - - - - - - 67 

SEVENTH PAPER, 

THE SIXTH GIFT. 

A Three-Inch Wooden Cube Divided — Forms of Knowledge — Forms of Com- 
parison, of Beauty and of Life — Sequence, " Grasshopper Green." - 76 

EIGHTH PAPER. 

THE SEVENTH GIFT. 

Circle — Square — Right-angled Isosceles Triangle — Equilateral Triangle — 
Right-angled Scalene Triangle — Obtuse-angled Triangle — Uses of this 
Gift Manifold. -...---. 82 

NINTH PAPER. 

THE EIGHTH, NINTH AND TENTH GIFTS. 

Wire Rings, Sticks, Seeds — Summary and Analysis of all the Gifts — " The Four 

Apple Trees." - - - •- - '9^ 

TENTH PAPER. 

THE OCCUPATIONS. 

Advantages of Early Manual Training — Sewing — Weaving — Paper Folding — 
Paper Cutting and Pasting — Peas Work — Clay Modelling — Parquetry — 
Drawing — Pricking — The Peg Board. - - - - - loi 



CONTENTS. 9 

ELEVENTH PAPER. 
CHRISTMAS WORK. 

PAGE. 

Its Moral Significance— Articles that may be made as Gifts by the Children — 
Needle Case— Calendar— Sachet Holders— Handkerchief Case— Shaving 
Papers — Match Holders. - - - - - - - 109 

TWELFTH PAPER. 

THE GAMES. 

Play Universal — A Glimpse of Froebel — Play the Business of Childhood — 
Physical and Ethical — Management of the Games — Mrs. Walter Ward's 
Suggestions— " The Blacksmith." - - - - - - 117 

THIRTEENTH PAPER. 

DIE MUTTER UND KOSELIEDER. 

Adverse Criticism — Miss Brooks' Classification — First Group — Play of the 
Limbs— The Falling Game— The Weather Vane— "All's Gone "—"Tick- 
Tack" — Second Group — Thumbs and Fingers — Flower Basket — Coo- 
Coo — Third Group — Beckon to Chickens — Pigeon House — Fishes — Fourth 
Group — The Labor Plays — Fifth Group — Direct Moral Training — Sixth 
Group — The Inner-uniting Life — Conclusion. - - - - 123 

FOURTEENTH PAPER. 

A DAY IN THE KINDERGARTEN. 

The School Room — Pictures — Hours — Beginning the Day — " Good-Morning " 
Songs — The Morning Talk — Subjects — Lessons in Discipline — Games — 
The Occupation — A Week of Kindergarten Work. . - . 14^ 

FIFTEENTH PAPER. 

THE HOME KINDERGARTEN. 

Frau Schrader's Work — Mothers' Clubs — Household Work — Books for Moth- 
ers — Materials. - - - - - - - -154 



10 CONTENTS. 

SIXTEENTH PAPER^ 
TRAINING AND TRAINING SCHOOLS. 

PAGE. 

Natural Qualifications for the Work — Love for Children — Music — General 
Preparation — Private, Public and Mission Schools — The Training Teacher 
— Salaries — Prominent Training Schools and their Requirements. - i6i 

SEVENTEENTH PAPER. 

TOPICS OUTLINED. 

Laying out the Year's Work in the Kindergarten — For Autumn, Winter, 
Spring, Summer — Plant Lessons — Easter — Grass Mowing — The Carpen- 
ter. ^ - = = , - - - . .168 

ADDENDUM. 

THE NEW CENTURY BUSY WORK. 

A Connecting Link between the Kindergarten and the Common School. — The 
Educational Value of Reproductions from Famous Works of Art — " Fairy 
Tale and Fable." ..-----. 174 



COME, LET US LIVE WITH OUR CHILDREN. 

FROEBEL. 



INTRODUCTION. 

This book has been written with a very definite purpose. The Editor of 
The Delineator, a popular magazine for the home, read very extensively 
throughout the entire country, received frequent inquiries regarding the Kin- 
dergarten, and proposed to meet the needs of his subscribers by publishing a 
series of articles which should contain a clear and simple statement of the 
underlying principles of the Kindergarten system, and which should give illus- 
trations of the methods employed in carrying out those principles. 

Mrs. Sara Miller Kirby, a graduate of Teachers' College, New York. City, 
was asked to undertake the work. How well she has performed her task is 
shown by numerous and cordial responses from every part of this country and 
of the British provinces. 

That these papers may be more available for use, and so may the better 
serve the great constituency of mothers for whom they were prepared, they have 
been put into book form. 

The demand for such a book is one of the notable signs of the times. A 
great movement is now going forward which, in general terms, is spoken of as 
The New Education. At the foundation of this New Education is the Kinder- 
garten system, whose development will be an upward and onward movement of 
humanity. It is an inclusive movement ; the home, the church, the school and 
the university feel its energy, and the philanthropist and the reformer recognize 
the fact that in its demand for a true, all-sided education for all children, from 
earliest childhood onward, the Kindergarten has struck at the central difficulty 
of all our present social ills. 

It is the home that chiefly makes the child. That mothers are so generally 
looking for more light regarding the best means of early child-culture is evi- 
dence that a new day has dawned, a day of spiritual uplifting and of the devel- 
opment of the higher possibilities of humanity. 

This little book goes forth to do its share towards the promotion of this 
higher life of the people. 

ANGELINE BROOKS. 
Teachers' College^ New York City^ 

March lo, i8g6. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

It has been my purpose in writing these " Papers," which first appeared in 
The Delineator, to bring the Kindergarten plainly before the people. For 
this reason, while I have not ignored the psychological principles underlying 
the subject, I have divested it of the excess of technicality sometimes associ- 
ated with its exposition and have endeavored rather to present a readable or 
" popular " explanation of " the new education." 

Many of the Kindergarten books now upon the market, while interesting to 
those trained in this work, do not attract the uninitiated. Besides, the subject 
of the Kindergarten, embracing, as it does, the beginnings of everything, is 
necessarily so broad a field that most books are devoted to only one phase of 
the work. In writing generally upon the subject, it has not been possible to 
do more than scatter seeds, as it were, of the Kindergarten tree. But a seed 
of Kindergarten thought planted in any reasonably fertile soil is bound, by 
its very nature, to take root and grow. America, with its free, progressive 
people, Froebel considered the " land of promise " for the Kindergarten cause. 

As these " Papers " have successively appeared, assurances have come to me, 
both from the home and the educational field, that my effort has not been in 
vain, and so I feel encouraged to send this book out upon the world, hoping 
that it may be the means of awakening an interest in child-life which will lead to 
further studies and thus widen the circle of influence until its effect is felt, not 
only in the home, but by all who have to do with the lives and education of 
little children. 

SARA MILLER KIRBY. 
Poughkeepsie^ N. K, 

February^ 1896. 



For permission to use quotations, selections, songs, music, etc,, the publish- 
ers are indebted to the courtesy of Miss Angeline Brooks, Miss Emilie Poulsson, 
the Milton Bradley Co., the Lothrop Publishing Co. and the Oliver Ditson Co. 




Fkederick Feoebel. 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



FIRST PAPER. 

FROEBEL AND HIS PRINCIPLES. 

To meet the manner and tendencies of this growing age a new system of 
education has been demanded, a system in which the loving heart shall be 
deemed of equal importance with the thinking head and the trained hand. "Out 
of the heart are the issues of life," and "From the abundance of the heart the 
mouth speaketh." Phillips Brooks, when dying, said that he had wished to see 
the attainments of the next twenty years, but these attainments will be sadly 
marred unless the loving heart is more fully cultivated. The intelligent 
observer of the times sees this lack at the root of many of our troubles. Intel- 
lectual giants accomplish much, and so do men of brawn, but these are not so 
much needed as are sensible, capable men and women who are loyal to country 
and faithful to the home life and its relations and who recognize a brother in 
the fellow-man. 

Frederick Froebel, the founder of the Kindergarten, whose lonely childhood 
and thoughtful mind led him to look deeply into these matters, felt that the 
want of a proper development of the human being was due to a lack of unity in 
training and a non-conformity to the laws of nature. The time to begin this right 
education, which Froebel defines as " emancipation — the setting free of the 
bound-up forces of the body and soul," is when the child is in its mother's arms. 
And in this connection Froebel says of the mother, " With the knowledge that 
a divine spark slumbers in the little being on her lap, there must kindle in her 
a holy zeal and desire to fan this spark into a flame, and to educate for 
humanity a worthy citizen," Before giving a further outline of Froebel's princi- 
ples, it will be necessary to know something of the life and work of the man 
who devised this wonderful system and successfully built up its practice. 

Frederick Froebel was born at Oberweissbach, a village of Schwarzburg, in 
the Thuringian Forest, Germany, on April 21, 1782. His mother died when he 
was nine months old, and his father, the hard-working pastor of a congregation 



16 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

of some five thousand people, left him entirely to the care of servants and older 
brothers and sisters. Froebel tells us, " I had no more a father than a mother, 
for, owing to my father's preoccupation during my infancy, I always remained 
a stranger to him." When the boy was four years old, his father married again. 
The new mother at first responded to and encouraged the love of the lonely 
child, but on the birth of her own son, she repelled and estranged him. She 
attributed disturbances in the family life to his influence, and so represented 
matters to the father that he, being too busy to investigate, early accepted his 
son as a bad boy. The latter became more and more widely separated from his 
parents in thought and feeling ; and, thus thrown upon himself, with his soul filled 
with grief at his isolation, he began to contemplate his own inner life. Of this 
he speaks thus in after years : " Fate decided upon me and chose me for its 
bearer without having consulted me beforehand. It showed me the importance 
of an education conformable to nature by giving me bitter experiences and 
deprivations, while the early loss of my mother threw me upon self-education. 
What one has been obliged to contend with bitterly, he wishes to soften to his 
fellow-men. Thus the necessity for self-education led me to the education of 
my fellow-men." 

At an early age, he was placed in the girls' class of the village school. 
Here he was much influenced by the neatness and order of the place, by the 
Scriptural verses learned by the children from the Sunday services and repeated 
during the week, and by the songs that were sung. Of the songs, he speaks of 
two, "Soar above, my heart and soul," and " It costeth much to be a Christ," 
as impressing him deeply, and says that in after years, when he was a strug- 
gling, striving man, they became a source of great encouragement and joy» 
The boy was often a silent listener while his father taught and conversed with 
his flock, and he very early became much disturbed by what seemed to him 
discordancy in life, and especially in matrimonial and family life ; he could not 
understand how it was that man alone should be so created that it was hard for 
him to do right. Speaking of this to an older brother when showing him his 
delight in the beautiful harmony of some hazel blossoms, the brother pointed 
out to him the sexual difference in those flowers, and told him that this arrange- 
ment existed throughout all nature, even the flower world not being exempt. 
Froebel says : '' Henceforth, human and natural life, soul and flov^^er existence, 
were inseparable in my eyes, and my hazel blossoms I see still, like angels that 
open to me the great temple of Nature. It seemed as if I had the clue of 
Ariadne, which would lead me through all the wrong and devious ways of life, 
an emblem of man's life in its highest spiritual relations, and many things were 
thus solved for me." 

He gives the above as one crisis in his inner life, and says two others 
occurred before his tenth year. The first of these sprang from discussions 
between his father and brother, to neither side of which could he strictly 
adhere. He came to this conclusion : '' In every foolish idea a true side is to 
be found. When two contend for truth, it may be learned from both." The 
second arose from his father's religious teachings. It seemed necessary for 



FROEBEL AND HIS PRINCIPLES. 17 

him to put on Christ, but the fulfillment appeared impossible till the thought 
came that " Human nature, in itself, does not make it impossible for man to 
live and represent again the life of Jesus in its purity ; man can attain to the 
purity of the life of Jesus if he only finds the right way to it." 

When Froebel was about eleven years of age, his mother's uncle, Superin- 
tendent Hoffman, of Stadt-Ilm, a gentle, benevolent man, came to visit the fam- 
ily. Froebel became greatly attached to him, and he, seeing the unhappy 
situation of the boy, persuaded the father to give young Frederick into his 
charge. This was willingly done, and he passed five happy years in his uncle's 
house, enjoying the companionship of boys of his own age, hitherto denied him. 
In this life of freedom and confidence he grew in mind and body. His studies 
there impressed him favorably, except Latin, which he complains of as being 
miserably taught, and geography, which distressed him as having " no connec- 
tion with life." 

Now the necessity of choosing a calling arose. The step-mother would not 
allow of a studious life being taken up, as by two of his brothers, for fear the 
father's property would be diminished by the expense incurred ; therefore, in 
1797 he w^as apprenticed for two years to a forester. This man had an excellent 
reputation, but could not impart his knowledge. Froebel's two years passed 
without much benefit, and, leaving the forester, he went in 1799 to Jena as a 
student. Only in botany, of all his studies, could he see " the inner connection 
of things. It was all arbitrary, and no sequence of instruction." But his 
teacher of botany, who was also instructor in natural history, satisfied his desire 
to know the interdependence of nature. He says he especially laid hold of 
" the thought of the relation of animals, branching out on all sides ; and that 
the bone or framework of fish, birds and man is one and the sam.e ; that of man 
is to be considered perfected as the ground type of all the rest which Nature 
strives to represent in their subordinate frames." 

Two years later he left Jena, having become involved in debt through his 
generosity to his brother, and returned to his father's house. A position was 
then obtained for him on an estate at Hildburg. The father died in 1802, and 
then Froebel served as actuary of the forest court near Bamberg. In 1805, hav- 
ing received a legacy from an uncle, he yielded to his desire to study architec- 
ture, and went to Frankfort for that purpose. To insure his support, he took 
private pupils, and shortly afterward was introduced to Dr. Gruner, principal of 
the Model School just established in Frankfort. Gruner was so pleased with 
the young man that he immediately offered him a place in his school, urging 
him to give up architecture and become a teacher. Froebel finally accepted 
a position in the Model School ; and of his work he writes to his brother: " It 
seemed to me as if I had found something not known and yet long desired, long 
missed ; as if I had finally found my native element. I was like a fish in water 
or a bird in air." 

Wishing for better methods of teaching, he turned for inspiration to Festa- 
lozzi, whose name was then the educational watchword, and spent two weeks 
with him in his school at Yverdun, determining at the close of his visit to give 



18 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

greater study to Pestalozzi's methods when the opportunity should offer. This 
came in 1808, when he obtained the privilege of taking three private pupils with 
him into Pestalozzi's institute. Here he remained two years, teaching and 
studying ; but still he was not satisfied ; something was wanting. So, in 1810 
he left Switzerland and entered the University of Gottingen as a student of 
languages and natural history. The latter study led him to desire a greater 
knowledge of mineralogy and crystallography, and for these branches he entered 
the Lectures at the Royal Museum, Berlin, in October, 1812. "It was there," 
says Lange, " that the persuasion ripened in his mind that all development is 
founded upon one law, and that this unity must be at the basis of all principles 
of development, their beginning and end. This conclusion was the fruit of a 
profound study of nature in its law of development, and the most careful con- 
templation of the child." 

In 18 13 came the call to arms for protection against Napoleon. Froebel 
joined the infantry division of the corps of Lutzow at Leipsic. In this connec- 
tion he says : " Every one was called to arms to protect the Fatherland. I had 
indeed a home, a native land, I might say a motherland, but no fatherland. 
My native country did not call me. I was not Prussian, and so it happened, 
owing to my retired life, the call to arms inspired me little. It was something 
different that called me, not with enthusiasm but with a firm resolution, to enter 
the ranks of the German soldiers. It was the feeling and consciousness of the 
ideal Germany, that I respected as something high and holy in my spirit, and 
which I wished to be everywhere unfettered and free to act. Further, the firm- 
ness with which I held to my educational career decided me. Although I could 
not really say that I had a fatherland, yet it must happen that every boy, that 
every child who should later be educated by me, would have a fatherland, and 
that that fatherland now demanded protection, when the child himself could not 
defend it. I could not possibly think how a young man capable of bearing 
arms could become the teacher of children whose country he had not defended 
with his life-blood. This was the second thing that influenced me to my deci- 
sion. Thirdly, the summons to war appeared to me a sign of the common need 
of man, of the country, of the time in which I lived, and I felt that it would be 
unworthy and unmanly not to struggle for the common necessity of the people 
among whom one lives, not to bear my part towards repelling a common danger. 
Every consideration was secondary to these convictions, even that which grew 
out of my bodily constitution, too feeble for such a life." 

Shortly after leaving Dresden with the troops, Froebel met Langethal, a 
Thuringian like himself, and he in turn introduced his friend Middendorff, a 
young theological student from Berlin. A third acquaintance, with a young 
man by the name of Bauer, was also formed. These three were destined to 
play an important part in Froebel's life. In July, 1813, those who did not wish 
to serve longer were allowed to return home. Froebel, receiving the appoint- 
ment of assistant to Prof. Weiss in the Mineralogical Museum at Berlin, 
went immediately to that position, and two years after he again met and became 
more closely united with his friends Middendorff and I>angethal, who were then 



FROEBEL AND HIS PRINCIPLES. 19 

pursuing their theological studies in Berlin. While studying minerals in the 
Berlin Museum, he became more and more firmly impressed with the necessity 
of an education conformable to nature, and he resolved to give the remainder of 
his life to the education of humanity. 

On this subject, he had many talks with his friends Middendorff and Lange- 
thal. As a starting-point he undertook the care and education of his sister's 
five children at Greisheim, and then and there began his great undertaking. 
Middendorff soon joined him. A year later the little school was removed to 
Kielhau, a village near Rudolstadt, where a small property had been purchased 
by his sister-in-law ; and the next year Langethal joined his friends. A new 
school building was erected. Froebel about this time married Wilhelmine 
Hofmeister, daughter of a Prussian Counsellor of Berlin, a woman full of power 
and enthusiasm for his idea, and willing to make many sacrifices for the 
furthering of the work. Some years later he founded an institute in the Canton 
of Lucerne, Switzerland, and also one for girls at Willisau. In all of these enter- 
prises, Middendorff, his nephew Barop, and Langethal worked zealously. In 
1836, Frau Froebel's health being broken by her arduous labors and the loss of 
her mother, her husband and herself returned for a time to Berlin, and here it 
was that the idea of the Kindergarten dawned upon him. 

Lange in his Reminiscences says : " It was now clear to him that for the 
elevation of all education, that of the earliest childhood, as the most important 
time for human development, was indispensable, and that in its behalf, //^j, as 
the first activity of the child, must be spiritualized and systematically treated."' 
The first Kindergarten institution was founded at Blankenburg in 1837. In 
1839, while presenting his idea of the Kindergarten in Dresden, his faithful 
wife died ; but Froebel worked on and finally succeeded in establishing Kinder- 
gartens in Hamburg and Dresden. At the Guttenberg festival in 1840 the 
Kindergarten was made a national institution, and thus Germany placed herself 
in advance of all other countries in the matter of education. Nine years after- 
ward the Baroness Von Marenholtz-Biilow, a woman of wealth and distinction, 
met Froebel and, learning the idea of the work, added her influence to the 
cause. She introduced Froebel to the Duke of Meiningen, who gave him one 
of his castles as a training-school for Kindergartners ; to Diesterweg, a director 
of the Royal Seminary for teachers at Berlin ; to the Minister of Education of 
Saxe-Weimar, and to many others in authority. She also brought Froebel and 
Middendorff to the courts of Meiningen and Weimar, besides interesting the 
Grand Duchess of Russia and the Countess of Hesse ; and she has labored 
without interruption for the founding of Kindergartens throughout the principal 
European countries. 

In 185 1 the Prussian Minister of Education interdicted the Kindergarten, 
because of some socialistic pamphlets published by Froebel's nephew but at first 
supposed to have been written by Froebel himself. This proved a great blow 
to the educator, who had felt assured of quietness and success for his declining 
years. In June of the following year he died ; but since his death his ideas have 
been steadily gaining ground in all civilized countries. 



20 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

The Kindergarten, or child-garden, as the word means, begins with a child's 
first manifestations, and is designed to develop the little one for the purposes of 
life, as a plant in a garden is cultivated for its " fruits in due season." In the 
care of a plant the object to be attained is perfected growth, with flowers and 
fruit. In the development of a child the true object to be sought is the ripened 
fruit of character. To attain this object we must give the child a threefold 
education — physical, spiritual and moral ; he must be educated in his relations 
to Nature, to God and to his fellow-man. First, there is physical education. 
The purpose of the body is to serve the uses of the soul, as the husk covers the 
grain of wheat ; and as we give to the wheat plant good physical conditions 
that it may form the best grain, so we should consider the body physically that 
the soul may not be impeded in its attainments. Sunshine is one of the chief 
necessities for good growth in a plant, and the sunshine of love in a child's life 
gives coloring and direction to his whole being. He must possess a healthy 
body, that he may have free use of all his powers ; and his mind, through the 
activity of his limbs and senses, will gain knowledge and attain fullest growth. 
Mrs. Peabody says : " The body is the garden in which God plants the human 
soul, to dress and to keep it. The loving mother is the first gardener of the 
human flower. Good nursing is the first word of Froebel's gospel of child 
nature." 

A truly spiritual life is only entered into from the individual having grown 
into it. This growth commences in extreme youth. The child has an instinc- 
tive desire for God, an unconscious yearning which must be aroused and made 
conscious by stimulus from without. The design of life should be recognized 
from the ver)'' beginning, but as we do not know when religious development 
commences, we should exercise the greatest care that we be neither premature 
nor too late with the unfolding. "Children can no more become religious by 
their own unaided power than they can become anything else that is desired 
for them." Such tendencies should be given as will develop into religious 
character. Cultivate their right feelings ; make them happy in their daily lives ; 
unfold a love of Nature, and back of this a reverence for the Heavenly Father 
as the Giver of all good and perfect things. In telling what the farmer does, go 
back to the growth of the grain, and to God who gave the rain and sunshine for 
its perfecting. The material world is a symbol of the spiritual. Viewed in this 
light, the "book of nature" becomes sacred as an expression of God, and to 
teach the child about Nature becomes a duty. Child-life should be active, joy- 
ous, full of kindly deeds to others. By loving service to those about us we are 
led to a loving surrender to God. 

The third relationship Froebel would have us consider for the child, is that 
with his fellow-man, involving social training. All the child's relationships start 
with the mother. Hers should, therefore, be the first and the closest of ties, and 
for this reason too many strangers must not be allowed to handle a little child, or 
his affections will become weak and unstable. On the other hand, however, too 
much seclusion leads to timidity, fear of strangers and selfishness. It is very 
important that a child should have intercourse with other children, and the 



FROEBEL AND HIS PRINCIPLES. 21 

benefits derived from the social relations of the Kindergarten are many. It 
affords the best connection with the home life. " Every new relationship of the 
child should be connected with what has gone before." He meets here a little 
community, an epitome of the race. The games and plays teach love of nature, 
care of animals, respect for all callings, cheerfulness in every condition of life, 
and belief that any good calling well followed is honorable. The child is thus 
early led to see the interdependence of all people. 

Another important lesson is that the greatest freedom, both on the material 
and the spiritual plane, lies in obedience to law. The child discovers this 
when he is excluded from the games or work because he disturbs the unity. 
He learns to submit his will to that of others, and to do so not from fear of 
punishment but from love of right. " Whether a human being become a 
moral freedman, within the given limits, or a slave to his own or others' caprice, 
depends to a great extent on the foundation laid in the earliest days of his 
development." The child enters upon life a mere bundle of possibilities. He 
has to learn to observe, to compare, to reason and to show choice, likes and dis- 
likes. He begins almost immediately to expand, and the feelings and will grow 
as much as the intellect. There is an unchangeable standard of right and 
wrong, and every being is able to form conceptions of both. Therefore, the 
child must be trained not only to know the truth but to gladly live up to it. 

In thus considering the child's physical, spiritual and social training, we 
cannot fail to recognize the importance of infancy, when the child is, as Froebel 
calls him, *'an all-absorbing eye," taking in everything. We should, therefore, 
be careful to surround him with nothing but what is pure and clean, for these 
early impressions affect the whole after life ; and the training must be perfected 
through natural means, through symbols and through play. Froebel attaches 
great importance to the child's play. The first infantile manifestation is that 
of motion, and then the child endeavors to become acquainted with his own 
body. As he grows older, he seems constantly in motion. Having learned to 
walk, he runs back and forth, wants to touch and handle everything, climbs 
and jumps. He thus gains a knowl-edge of things, and acquires strength and 
skill. In all of this the child is not conscious that he is developing himself ; he 
is merely gratifying a natural impulse. Having a dim presentiment of the 
future, he builds houses, digs in the dirt and performs in miniature other occupa- 
tions of man. Later, when mingling with other children, his play gives moral 
cultivation as well as physical and mental. He is exercised in self-control and 
self-sacrifice, and learns to bear pain, to obey rules, to be alert and active. 
The child who plays perseveringly until physically tired, will grow up an earnest, 
steadfast man, well prepared to fight the battle of life. 

" Labor performs the prescribed task, but play prescribes for itself." 

" Come, let us live with our children ; 
Earnestly, holily live, 
Learning ourselves the sweet lesson 
That to the children we give. " 



22 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



For further reading see : — 

Kindergarten and Child-culture Papers^ 
The Kindergarte7i and School^ 
Froebel ajid Education by Self -activity^ 



by Henry Barnard, LL. D. 
by Four Active Workers, 
by H. Courthope Bowen. 



O 



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■■\ 




SECOND PAPER* 

THE GIFTS EXPLAINED. 

HE Kindergarten system includes all the 
external details and appliances that are 
necessary to educate the whole child in ac- 
cordance with the laws of Nature, while the 
different divisions of the work are so perfectly 
adapted to his limited strength that all the 
requirements of, mental and physical training 
are met, and the foundation is laid for the 
more difficult after-education of school and 
of life. 

The work of the Kindergarten com- 
prises gift-lessons, occupations, move- 
ment-plays, games and talks with the 
children. The gift-lessons are given by 
means of a series of playthings called 
gifts which are put into the hands of the child to promote mental and manual 
discipline. After each lesson they are returned to their original form and are 
kept among other materials in the Kindergarten. The occupations, on the 
other hand — sewing, weaving, clay-modelling, drawing, paper-cutting and fold- 
ing, pricking, interlacing of slats, etc. — being the epitomized industries of the 
world, introduce elements which are to be combined into wholes by the child 
and carried home as his own property. 

It is often asked why the gifts were so called. Froebel studied growth in 
the natural world as symbolic of growth in the physical, mental and spiritual 
worlds. He said that everything on the earth was a gift of God, to be used as^ 
means to reveal man to himself, to reveal God to man, and to prepare for the 
fuller life to come. A few simple forms he selected as typical of these gifts in 
Nature, and called them " the gifts." These he used as the starting-point of 
the child's education. 

The gifts are ten in number, beginning with the ball and concluding with 
any small seed used to represent a point. They take as the fundamental idea 
the development of the child's innate desire for activity. Every step is a logi- 
cal sequence of the preceding one, and as the gifts begin with such simplicity of 
form and develop into complexities so gradually, it may easily be seen how the 
plan corresponds with the growth of the child. In an essay translated by Miss 



THE GIFTS EXPLAINED. 



2a 



Lucy Wheelock, of Boston, it is said : "A comparison of Froebel's play-gifts 
with those which from year to year competitive industry offers so richly — not 
exactly for the benefit of the world of children — first shows them in their true 
light. Almost all the playthings which we buy in toy-shops filled with all pos- 
sible expense, are finished and perfect in themselves, often skilfully constructed 
objects whose beauty cannot be denied. Children stand amazed and delighted 
at the sight of a Christmas table ornamented with such gifts. But how long 
does the joy last ? After a short time it changes, first to indiffer- 
ence, then to disgust ; and economical parents put away under 
lock and key for a later time the things that are tolerably well 
preserved. What can the child do with playthings on which 
already the fancy of an artist has worked and has left almost 
nothing for the self-activity of the child ? The only thing it can 
do with these is to take them apart and destroy them. But the 
punishments inflicted on such occasions show how many parents 
entirely misunderstand this expression of the instinct of activity 
so worthy of recognition, and the desire of the child for knowl- 
edge and learning. If one gives to an indulged child the choice 
of his play-material, he will see that a stick of wood will be the 
dearest doll, mother's foot-stool the coach of state, a little heap of 
sand material for cooking, baking, writing and drawing, and 
father's cane a darling pony. According to these experiences 
Froebel was anxious to make his gifts for play as simple as 
possible." 

The first gift, which is for the most part introductory to the 
second, and which Froebel intended for use in the nursery, consists 
of six worsted balls in the six spectrum colors : red, orange, 
yellow, green, blue and purple. 

The second gift consists of a ball, a cube and a cylinder, 
made of wood. This gift is the basis of the Kindergarten. 
From it are derived all the other gifts, and even the games and 
occupations will be found to be related to it. Froebel saw 
that the materials which God has provided are ever being used 

by man for combinations 
into new wholes, and that 
in all inventions and indus- 
tries these typical elements 
only reappear in new ar- 
rangements. Therefore, he 
took these three forms as epitomizing the 
universe. The ball stands for the earth, 
sun, moon and planets, all the vast wholes of 
Nature. Its opposite, the cube, is the simplest type of the mineral kingdom. 
As reconciling these contrasts and partaking of the qualities of both, appears 
the cylinder, the typical form of vegetable and animal life. 




Illustration 

No. 1. 






Illustration" 
No. 2. 



Illustration Xo. 3. 



24 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 





Illustration No. 4. 



The third gift is a two-inch wooden cube, like the cube of the second 

^ift, but divided once in each direction into eight one-inch cubes. This gift 

is a step in advance of the second ; it satisfies 

the child's desire for investigation, represent- 
ing both the whole and its parts. It is the 

first gift used for building. 

The fourth gift is also a two-inch wooden 

€ube, which is divided by one vertical and 

three horizontal cuttings into eight " bricks," 

f;ach two inches long, one inch wide and half 

an inch thick. New dimensions of length and 

thickness are thus introduced. 

The fifth gift, a three-inch cube, is more complex. It is made up of 

twenty-seven one-inch cubes, 
three of which are divided by one 
diagonal cutting into half-cubes 
or triangular prisms, and three 
more by two diagonal cuttings 
into quarter-cubes or smaller tri- 
prisms. Great dexterity and del- 
icacy of touch are now required. 
The tri-prism appears as a new 
Illustration No. 5. form, and the slanting surface 

becomes a reality, while designs 

•so varied and so real are built 

that the child quickly learns to 

love his gift-lesson. 

The sixth gift, a cube of the 

same size as the fifth, is divided 

into twenty-seven bricks of the 

same dimensions as those of the 

fourth gift ; three, however, are 

cut lengthwise into halves and 

six breadthwise into halves, pro- 
ducing square prisms or columns 









Illustration No. 6. 






Illustration No. 7. 



and half-bricks of two sizes. The columns of this 
gift enable the child to build . high structures that 
suggest Grecian architecture, and are pleasing and 
diverting. 

The seventh gift is composed of five planes 
made of thin pieces of polished wood in light and 
dark shades. These planes furnish lessons in 
elementary geometry, and cultivate the art of de- 
signing and a love of the beautiful by showing 



symmetrical forms. They are easily derived from the second gift. 



THE GIFTS EXPLAINED. 



25 




Illustration 
No. 9. 



Illustration 

No. 10. 





Illustration No. 8. 



The eighth gift consists of steel rings in three sizes and corresponding 
half-rings. The rings represent the out- 
lines of the ball, or the round face of the 
^_^_^^ cylinder, and the half-rings 

corresponding portions of 

I these objects. This gift is 
also used successfully in 
laying out interesting sym- 
metrical patterns. 

In the ninth gift, sticks 

of different lengths are 

used to represent lines, the 

edges of the cube, or, in fact, those of any 

of the gifts having straight edges. 

In the tenth gift small seeds serve as points, the parts of a line ; and with 
them, as with the ninth gift, surfaces are indicated in outline. 

THE FIRST GIFT.— The first gift, the ball, is to be considered as regards 
the thing itself and as to its adaptation to the child. Froebel in the beginning 
selected the red ball as the first gift, and afterward added to it the other five, 
thus showing the three primary colors, red, blue and yellow, and the three 
secondary, orange, green and purple, although it is not intended to teach the 
young child this classification of hues. The ball represents the wholes of Nature. 

It is a complete body 
^ that is always round, no 
matter from what point 
it is viewed. It is a uni- 
versal plaything, was 
used by the Greeks 
and Romans, and is the 
basis of our national 
game. 

Looking for the ball in Nature, we find 
that all the heavenly bodies are balls revolv- 
ing with a circular motion about the sun 
as a centre. Ball forms are found in eggs 
and bird's nests, in the human head and 
eyes, in plant seeds, in flowers, such as the 
rose and its petals, and in many vegetables 
like the cabbage and the beet. 

Circles or parts of circles appear in the 
tendrils of plants, in the curlings of smoke, 
in the windings of rivers, and in that beauti- 
ful arch of promise, the rainbow. Man uses 
a curved line in building a bridge, to gain greater strength, and in cutting 
a path to the summit of a mountain, that the ascent may be easier. The 



nf 




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Illustration No. 11. 



26 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

circle is emblematic of unity, immortality, eternity^ Mrs. Peabody says that 
" every word in its origin has represented a particular object in Nature.'* 
So, we speak of the daily "round," of the "sphere" of one's influence, of 
a " ring" of conspirators, of the " cycle " of the years, of a " band " of workers, 
of the family " circle," all suggesting unity, a bond, a circle. 

It was one of Froebel's great principles that the child is an epitome of the 
race, and as the race has been developed by symbols from the simple to the 
complex, from the concrete to the abstract, so the child's powers should be 
trained and enlarged. Nothing is more helpless than a young child. He gets 
his first knowledge of externality through the sense of touch. He has little 
perception of sound, and the first ideas gained through sight are those of light 
and darkness. He is early attracted by color and movement. As he must 
learn through his senses, the starting-point for his knowledge ought to be a 
simple object. 

The simplicity of the ball, in connection with its universality in Nature 
and as a plaything, may be deemed an adequate reason for using it as 
the first gift. The child likes this simplicity, because he is not at first able to 
discern many qualities in an object, and he is also pleased with the ball's 
motions, which correspond with his own activity. Abbott suggestively remarks : 
" Give a baby a ball, and he will begin to study it as Nature dictates. He will 
look at it, feel it, turn it, squeeze it, suck it, smell it, throw it away, and crawl 
after it for a second study." 

Froebel advises that while a baby is in his crib the ball be suspended by 
a cord where he can easily see it. After a while he will 
begin to distinguish it from the other objects around him, 
' and, perhaps, his interest will be awakened by its bright 
color. If the ball is touched so that it swings, this motion 
will also appeal to him ; he will follow the string and look 
for the cause of the motion. After he has formed some idea 
of locomotion, he will attempt to grasp the ball, because he 
wants to grasp it mentally. He will have a feeling of ad- 
miration, then a love of possession, and lastly understanding. 
We trace the steps as emotion, desire, thought, act. When 
LLusTR^^TioN ^j^^ child first attempts to grasp the ball, he may not be suc- 

cessful, and will unconsciously ask, " Why did I not get it ? " 
He will then measure the distance again and make a second attempt. This time 
he will, perhaps, be successful, and he will then have a feeling of gratified 
desire. 

He will next begin to form ideas regarding the form, size, weight, material, 
hardness, elasticity, color, and roughness or smoothness of the ball, through the 
senses of touch and sight. Knowledge will come by a perception of differences. 
After the child has had the red ball for some time, the blue and yellow 
ones may be offered. These clear primary colors will satisfy him, for color 
as well as language speaks to a child. The blu& and yellow balls being 
different in color but alike in all other respects, a train of comparisons will 




THE GIFTS EXPLAINED. 



27 



be started in the child's mind without his being confused by seeing too many 
differences. 

No great distinction can be made between 
the use of the ball in the nursery and in the Kin- 
dergarten, as both the mother and the Kindergartner 
must be guided by the child's development. But 
each ball game should be connected with what has 
gone before, with something in the child's own life, 
and should be complete in itself. The mother may 
speak of the ball as " baby's ball," " the soft ball," " the 
nice, round ball " or " the quiet ball '' (tapping it on a surface) ; and she may 
say with the child, inducing him to use his fingers : 




Illustratiois^ No. 12 A. 





Illustbatio^s^ ^o. 13. 



iLLUSTRATIOlSr No. 14. 



" Here's a ball for Baby ; 
Big, and soft and round ; 



" Here is Baby's hammer, 
Oh, how he can pound ! 





iLLUSTEATIOISr I^O. 15. 



Illustration No. 16. 



This is Baby's music. 
Clapping, clapping so ; 



" These are Baby's soldiers, 
Standing in a row." * 



A Story may be told of bird-life, calling attention tp the way the bird hops. 
Show how the child's little playfellow, the ball, can hop. Make a nest of the 



* For the remainder of this selection, see Nursery Finger Plays, by Emilie Poulsson ; published by the Lothrop 
Publishing Company, Boston, Mass. 



28 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



left hand and put the ball into it with the right hand, -^ith this repeat or sing 
the following, moving the hand to suggest the swaying of a bird's nest : 

* " The little bird is in the nest, 
So quiet and so still ; 
I'll gently rock it to and fro 
And love it well, I will." 

Letting the ball hop, sing : 

" The little bird hops in its nest, 
So cosy and so warm ; 
It tries to do its very best, 
In sunshine and in storm. 

*' The little bird hops out its nest, 
So cosy anci so warm ; 
It tries to do its very best, 
In sunshine and in storm." 

Now the little bird is old enough to fly, and its wings are so strong it wants 
to try them ; then the good mother and father birds, who have cared for it a long 
time, say " Chirp, chirp," which means '' Try, try," and the little bird tries. 
After relating this, sing the following verses to the music given beneath (taking 
the ball-bird through the air in the hand and picking up crumbs) : 

*' Fly, little birdie, fly around, 

And pick up crumbs from off the ground. 
Fly, little birdie, fly around. 

And pick up crumbs from off the ground. 



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WM. 



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" Fly, little birdie, fly up high, 
Fly little birdie, near the sky. 
Fly, little birdie, in your nest. 
And have a quiet little rest." 

Then the following lullaby may be sung : 

" Close beneath thy mother's wing, 
. . Birdie, lay thy little head ; 

I will watch thy slumber, love; 
I will guard thy downy bed." 



* Music for these lines is given in Merry Songs and Games, by Clara Beeson Hubbard. 



THE GIFTS EXPLAINED. 



29 



"Nestle, nestle gently down, 
Close. thine eyes to sleep, my dear, 
Safe within our Father's love, 
You and I have naught to fear." 



Interest the child early in bird and animal life. Let him hop like a bird, and 
skip and jump as a lamb does. Tell about the family- 
life of animals. Show a bird's nest ; tell how the bird 
weaves her house round inside like a ball, and fit the 
ball into the nest. Tell how the good sheep gave 
us the wool to make the ball. It was part of her 
thick, soft coat, but this was too warm for her in 
Summer, so she let the farmer cut it off. He took 
it to town and sold it to a factory man, who had it 
washed, combed and twisted into threads called 
yarn. These threads were knit to make the ball. 
Boys' coats and girls' dresses to wear in Winter are 
also made of this wool which the sheep gives. Show 
some wool, and, if possible, let the child see an en- 
tire fleece, which is always rolled into a ball when ready for sale, that he may 
know how much the sheep gives away at a time. Learn in this connection 
" The Lambs," from Miss Poulsson's Nursery Fingers Plays : — 




Illustration No. 17. 



"This is the meadow where all the long day 
Ten little frolicsome lambs are at play," etc. 



The ball may be made of clay. To develop the child's hands, give him as 

large a piece of clay as he can well hold. Let 
him roll it between his palms gently (if rolled too 
fast, the water will be absorbed by the hands and 
the clay will crack), until it looks like the ball. 
Do not expect too much as to shape at first, and 
be careful not to tire 
the child. Let him 
also make a bird's nest, 
with little balls for 
eggs, and, if he likes, a 

bird to sit on the nest. These will all be life-like 

and real to him. Fire-brick clay is suitable for 

the purpose and can be obtained from any potter, 

and when bought in this way it is quite inexpen- 
sive. It should be kept in a covered stone jar, 

and the pieces may be used again and again if 

always put back into the jar and covered with water. After each using 




Illustration No. 18. 




Illustration No. 19. 



30 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



pour off the water and renew it several times, to clearrse the clay from any im- 
purities that may have been ab- 
sorbed from the hands. Allow it to 
dry sufficiently so it will not be 
sticky, and cut it off with a piece of 
cord. 

Bring out the idea of round ob- 
jects and of red objects — red balls, 
red apples, cranberries, the red sun at 
sunset, etc. Follow this by mention- 
ing things that go round, as wheels or 
spinning tops. Show that the ball will 
go round and round. Hold the string 




II II 
Illustration No. 20. 



and let the ball describe a circle in the air or on a table. 

" Round and round it goes, swinging on a string, 
Round and round and round and round, while we gaily sing." 



Let the child turn his hand and arm round and round, making a circle m the 



air. 



Move the string of the ball up and down^ and let the ball sink and rise while 
some rhythmic song is sung. Ask the child to name some- 
thing that goes up and do7un^ as a window sash or ele- 
vator. Move the hand up and down. Sink and rise on 
the toes. Cultivate language by asking appropriate ques- 
tions and having the child answer, " My ball goes up and 
down.'' " Susie's ball goes up and down.^' " The elevator 
goes itp and down'' Use terms to describe all the motions 
of the ball in the same way, developing correct speech 
after the object itself is understood. Also call attention to 
edges that run up and down'm stationary things. 

These exercises may be repeated with the blue, yellow, 
orange, green and purple balls, the primary colors being 
given first, and then the secondary. Tell stories that 
emphasize the colors. Make a collection of things in all 
the different hues, and allow the child to classify them, 
putting all the red objects together, then all the blue 
ones, and so on. This will furnish amusement for a long 
period, and will at the same time cultivate classification. 

Sing the " Fruit Selling Game:" 




Illustbation 
No. 21. 



" I am a little grocer, 

With fresh ripe fruit to sell, 

And if you please to buy from me, 

I'll try to serve you well." 



THE GIFTS EXPLAINED. 



31 



" I've apples green and cherries red, 
And yellow lemons too ; 
And plums and grapes and oranges, 
Which I will sell to you." 

The child will find the color game very interesting. Place the six colored 
balls in a circle ; let the child close his eyes while you take one ball away and put 
it out of sight. Then bid the child open his eyes and guess which color has gone. 
During this game sing : 

WHEN WE'RE PLAYING TOGETHER. 






tir 



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1. WhcD. we're play - ing 



to 



geth 



er, 



We 



hap 



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py aod 



glad; 



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In 



bright 



dull 



weath - er 



We 



nev - er 



sad. 



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2. Now tell, little playmate, 

Who has gone from our ring; 
And if you guess rightly. 
We will clap as we sing. * 

The child may hold out his right hand, right foot, left hand, left foot, and 
repeat the following lines, adapting them properly to each motion : 

" I put my right hand in, 
I put my right hand out ; 
I gave my right hand a shake, shake, shake, 
And I turn my right hand about." 





Illttstration No. 22. 



iLLtrSTRATION NO. 23. 



* From Son^-s and Gaines for Little Ones, published by The Oliver Ditson Co., Boston and New York. 



32 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



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THE PENDULUM. 



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Come and see, come and see, how mer - ri ly the clock doth go. "The 

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pen - du - lum swings to and fro, and nev > er from its place doth go, Swings 



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forward first, and then swings back, al - ways tick and always tack; 
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Tick, tack, tick, tack, tick, tack, tick, tack, tick, tack, tick, tack, tick, tack, tick I* 



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g=g=bs=^ S 



All of these bodily motions may be performed to music as a series of 
gymnastics. 

Follow this by motions rz'g/t^ and /e/t The balls swing rig/if and /<f/"/. The 
pendulum swings rigM and le/f, to and fro. This develops the idea of time 
and order. Tell something of day and night. Give songs about the sun. 

Position oi front and dack will be gained from the ball. 

*' From front to back now swing, 
You pretty little thing, 
Swinging, swinging, swinging still, 
Swinging with a right good will ; 
From front to back now swing, 
You pretty little thing. 

Show the child pictures of things representing the ball. Let him collect 
such pictures, cut them out and paste them in a scrap-book. Suit the lessons 
to the season of the year. In the Spring sing songs of the robin and blue bird, 
of building nests and of eggs hatching. In the Autumn sing " The brown birds 
are flying like leaves thro' the sky ; " and in Winter, " The chilly little 
chickadees." 

As soon as the child is old enough to enjoy and understand It, mix colors 
before him. Show him that blue and yellow make green, that red and blue 



THE SECOND GIFT. 



33 



make purple, that red and yellow produce orange. If the blue and yellow 
papers are held together in the li^ht of a window, the green tint may be plainly 
seen. These papers show the colors extremely well, and give much pleasure to 
the child. The relationship of the primary colors to the myriad hues of nature 
and art cannot be too thoroughly impressed upon the child's mind. 

The balls are very easy to make. There may be some difficulty at first to 
get them quite round, but that is soon overcome. Germantown yarn is the best 
and cheapest material for the outside covering and half a skein is more than 
enough for one ball. Do not think that any shade of red, blue, yellow, etc., will do. 
Be sure to get the clear color in each instance, and not a shade or tint. Use 
a steel needle of rather small size to make the covering. Form a center by 
firmly crushing a piece of paper, and about this wind old yarn, or, if a very soft 
ball is desired, wool batting cut into strips. Make this inside ball about four 
inches in circumference, and then crochet the covering. 

We might continue almost without end to tell of the devices which the 
mother or Kindergartner can provide for the development of the child with the 
help of the ball, which is seemingly a simple plaything but when rightly used 
becomes a means of education. All the child's strength is exercised in this 
training, while his mind and soul expand in a natural and harmonious way. 
Some of the results attained are love of Nature and God's works ; ideas of color, 
motion, form, texture, impressibility, position, order and time ; and training in 
physical culture, language, attention, memory and classification. 
For further reading on the first gift see : 

Nursery Finger Play s^ by Emilie Poulsson. 

Merry Songs and Ga?nes, by Mrs. C. B. Hubbard. 

Songs and Games for Little Ones, by Misses Walker and Jenks. 

The Kindergarten Giiide^ by Madame Kraus-Boelte. 



THIRD PAPER* 

THE SECOND GIFT. 

FROEBEL'S second gift to the Kindergarten is composed 
of a wooden ball, cube and cylinder. The gift includes the 
entire Kindergarten system, and also exemplifies Froebel's 
universal law, the laiv of unity. As has already been said, the 
ball represents the vast wholes of Nature, the planetary system. 
Examining the earth, man finds the cube as the simplest type 
of the crystals ; and to reconcile these opposites — the ball and 
cube — there is the cylinder, which typifies the form of life in 
man and in the vegetable kingdom and is used by man in his 
inventions. If this second gift and the law of unity which it 
embodies are fully understood, a guide will be found for the full and free 




34 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 




iLLUSTRATIOlSr No. 24. 



development of the child, and the mother and iCmdergartner cannot go far 
astray. In all that relates to the Kindergarten it is wise never to lose sight of 

first principles. 

In considering the second gift, we will 
examine some phases of the law of unity, 
will show how the other gifts follow from 
this one, and will take up the practical 
use of the gift in the nursery and Kinder- 

garten. These 



thoughts may at 
first seem dry and 
uninteresting, but it 
is only by studying 
the laws and prin- 
ciples upon which 
Froebel based the 
Kindergarten that 
we can obtain a 
true insight into his 
theory. Without 
this insight the Kin- 
dergarten becomes a mere routine, and is then rightly opened to the ridicule 

which has sometimes fallen upon it. Froebel 

denominates the law of unity in various ways, 

as, the law of contrasts and their connection, the 

law of harmony or equilibrium, and the law of 

related opposites ; but the expression, " the law 

of unity," seems to convey most clearly what he 

had in mind. Students of Nature have for 

many years seen how this law operates in all her 

works, but Froebel, while studying 

crystals in the University of Jena, 

discovered that it could be applied 

to education. 

The astronomer, regarding the 

heavenly bodies, finds that they all 

revolve in regular order about one 

common center, the sun, being kept 

in place by forces that pull equally 

in opposite directions, namely the 

centrifugal and centripetal forces. 

Newton wondered what held the 

apple fast to its parent stem, and 

when he saw it fall to the ground, he decided that as the force which pulled 

it up was weakened by the ripening of the stem, the apple was able to obey the 




Illustkation ISTo. 25. 




Illustration No. 26. 



THE SECOND GIFT. 



35 




Illustratiox No. 27. 



stronger pull and sought its way toward the centre of the earth. The philoso- 
pher said, " We will call this the law of gravitation," but it was only an illustra- 
tion of the centrifugal and cen- 
tripetal forces, both of which 
enter into the law of unity. 

In the chemical world the 
law of unity is exemplified in the 
connection of opposites, as in the 
attraction and affinity of mole- 
cules, in magnetism, and in the 
positive and negative poles of 
electricity. In music we find the 
law operating to produce har- 
mony and the relation of tones. 
God connects all things like 
links in a chain. Those great related opposites, the earth and sun, would be 
useless if unity had not been established between them by the atmosphere as a 

means of communication. The sun 
shines upon the ocean and causes it to 
give forth some of its moisture to the 
air. The moisture gathers into clouds, 
which are carried along by the winds 
until they strike some mountain-side 
or meet a colder current of air, when 
the moisture is precipitated in drops 
of water to the earth. The water is 
collected in the loose ground of woody 
places and forms a brook, the brook 
throws itself into a river, and the river 
finds its course at last to the ocean from which the water originally started. 
By this chain of cause and effect, 
the ever-recurring process of unity, 
the earth is aided in her work of 
growth and reproduction. 

The law of unity is constantly 
met with in our daily life. The 
finest railroad train cannot carry 
us in security to our destination if 
anything disturbs the unity of all 
its related parts. Let one piece 
of steel be removed from its place, 
and the entire train must be 
brought to a stop. The well-re- 
membered disaster at Ashtabula was due to the fact that the frost had broken 
the attraction that held together the particles of iron composing the bridge. 




Illustration No. 28. 




Illustration No. 29. 



86 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 




Illustration ISTo. 30. 



The law of unity may be traced in innumerable way%— in every product of Na- 
ture, in man's arts and industries, in his processes of thought, in the records of 
the past, in the departments of study, in human society, in church and state. 

Everything is the related opposite of something else, 
and each is made for the other. 

Froebel says, " The schoolmaster is the person 
who is in a position to demionstrate the unity of things, 
and a school becomes a school, not by teaching and 
imparting a mere variety and multitude of facts, but 
only by emphasizing the living unity that is in all 
things." When Froebel's law is recognized by educa- 
tors, inquiring minds will not be given isolated facts 
that only make them hunger for more. History will 
not be " a mere patchwork of battle-scenes," but a 
chain of causes and effects. Geography, botany, 
chemistry, philosophy and geology will no longer be treated as separate studies 
that leave the pupil with a mass of facts which prove of little practical benefit, 
because they are unrelated. In everything the true Kindergartner does, she 
observes the law of unity. 

The opening exercises are conducted with the little ones seated in a circle, 
the type of unity. Each individual is thus 
merged into a larger organism. He is put into 
social relations and learns consideration for 
others, which is one of the keynotes of society. 
He sings " Good Morning to the Merry Sun- 
shine," recognizing the sun as the source of life 
on the material plane, and is thus led, through 
the symbol, to God, the symbolized, the Giver of 

all life. In the march and gymnastic exercises he learns the unity and rhythm 
of motion. Looking at his clothing, he is carried back to the cotton-plant, to 
the flax from which the linen was made, to the wool from the sheep, or to the 
floss of the silk-worm, according to the texture of the garment, and he con- 
nects these opposites with the long line of means that is between. 

In The Kindergartner and the School^ 
Miss Brooks says : *' Following Froe- 
bel's law, the Kindergartner will handle 
the children skilfully because she will 
do it chiefly by indirectness. She will 
repress the too noisy activity of some 
wide-awake boy by making him re- 
Illustration No. 32. sponsible for the happiness of another 

child younger or weaker than him- 
self ; or she will subdue voices that are loud or harsh, not by calling attention 
to them, but by leading the children to listen to and imitate sweet sounds. 
She will arrange to alternate activity and rest, merry play and quiet work ; 




Illustration No. 31. 




THE SECOND GIFT. 



37 



in short, she will seek in everything to apply Nature's great law of equilib- 
rium, the law of unity!' Longfellow expresses the thought of unity when he 
says in Endymion : 

" No one is so accursed by fate, 
No one so utterly desolate, 
But some heart, though unknown, 
Responds unto his own." 

Let US now consider how the other gifts follow from the second. In the 
first gift, the six worsted balls, the child becomes familiar 
with the ball form, its activities, and the qualities of softness 
and roughness. His only comparison lies in the difference 
of color. When he is presented with the ball of the second 
gift, he recognizes his old playfellow, but perceives that it 
looks, feels and sounds different ; and he is told that this 
ball is made of wood, that it is smooth and hard, and that 
it makes a noise when struck against the table. As the 
mind develops through the perception of differences, so the 
child receives the cube after the ball, and connects these 
opposites wath the cylinder. 

Analyzing the second gift, we first take the ball. The 
ball has but one face, which is curved in every direction. If 
the finger is passed about it, it w^ill outline either a great 
or a small circle. The ball can rest only on one point. 
(Illustration No. 24.) 

The cube has six faces, twelve edges and eight corners. 
It stands on a face, and is inclined to rest, while the ball 

is formed for motion. The cube can be made to slide on a face. If a string 

is fastened go one corner or the middle of an edge and the cube is twirled, 

the latter will present the appearance, when viewed from the side, of a double 

cone or top. When looked down 

upon, its edges and corners w^ill 

seem to slip away, and we will see 

a point in the centre surrounded by 

a circle. When the cube is twirled 

from the centre of a face, it will 

look like a cylinder when viewed 

from the side, and will show a shad- 
owy circle outside a smaller solid 

one when looked at from above. 

(Illustrations Nos. 25 to 30.) 

The cylinder represents both 

the ball and the cube. It has one 

curved face, two flat faces and two curved edges. It can roll like the ball, and 

stand and slide like the cube. The outlines of the flat faces form circles. 

If the finger is passed about the curved face, it will trace a circle, but if drawn 




Illustkation 
No. 33. 




Illustration No. 34. 



38 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 




Illustration No. 35. 



up and down on the curved face, it will indicate a sf?aight line. The ball rests 
on a point, the cube on a face, and the cylinder either on a face or on a line^ 
which is made up of a succession of points, (Illustrations Nos. 31 to 34.) 

When the cylinder is twirled from the middle of a 
curved face, it resembles a ball with a shadowy rim about 
it when observed from the side, and a ball with a shad- 
ow^y rim flattened at the top when viewed from above. 
Twirled from the edge of a flat face, it looks like a cone 
when seen from the side, and like a ball when looked 
down upon. (Illustrations Nos. 35 to 37.) 

Thus the ball is seen in the cylinder, the cylinder 
in the cube, and the double cone in both the cube and 
the cylinder ; and this suggests Froebel's law — That each 
new plaything the child receives should be evolved from 
what he has had before and should contain the latter. 

The third, fourth, fifth and sixth gifts are derivations from the cube of the 
second gift. The seventh gift is 
easily worked out from the face of 
the cube. The rings of the ninth 
gift show the outline of the circular 
face of the cylinder, the circle de- 
scribed by passing the finger around 
the ball, or the rim seen when the 
cube is twirled. The tenth gift, 
the representation of the point, may 
be derived from the point on which 
the ball rests or the termination of 
any line in the cube. Thus it is 
seen that the second gift contains 
all the others. 

Froebel's idea is misconceived when all curved figures, as ellipsoids, ovoids^ 

etc., are introduced into the second gift, for the latter 
then degenerates into a lesson in form. The occupa- 
tions and games are intimately connected with the 
second gift. The square and circle are used in paper 
folding and cutting. The law of opposites exemplified 
by the ball and cube is followed in designing. Cir- 
cles and squares of paper are pasted to form pat- 
terns ; balls, cubes and cylinders are strung together 
in chains ; and in many ways the unity of nature is 
shown by bringing together seemingly disconnected 
opposites and finding the connections. The child sees 
more in the gifts as his mind unfolds, and from them 
he is led to a realization of the fact that nothing is wholly unrelated. 

Froebel saw that everything in nature follows the law of evolution ; the 




Illustration No 




Illustration No. 37. 



THE SECOND GIFT. 39 

child is no exception. As the child contains the germs of the future man, 
which germs are to be unfolded in a regular order, Froebel put the germs of 
the Kindergarten in the second gift, and evolved the other gifts from it in an 
orderly way corresponding with the development of the child. The child is at 
first in a purely symbolic stage. His imagination allows him to see anything 
he likes in his ball, cube or cylinder. He plays that the ball is a bird, the cube 
a house or cart, the cylinder the baker's rolling-pin, as fancy dictates. Froebel 
classed the first and second gifts together and named them the " Nursery Set." 
Here things are symbolized. This is analogous to the development of the 
human race. The Indians used pictures to express thought ; the Egyptians 
cut hieroglyphics on monuments ; Christ used material things to symbolize 
himself and his mission when he said, '' I am the bread of life," " I am the light 
of the world," *' I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman." 

Man is put on this earth to work out for himself a degree of perfection for 
the life to come. Natural things have reference to the spiritual, and God 
intends that w^e shall be led from the created thing to the Creator. Therefore, 
the child is to be surrounded by Nature. Poets feel the power of symbolism. 
Bryant expresses it in his lines to " The Fringed Gentian," and another poet 
teaches a lesson which he sees reflected in the lovely flowers of the arbutus 
that shed their fragrance while hidden under the withered leaves of the old 
year : 

" Walk life's dark ways, it seems to say, 
With love's divine foreknowing, 
That underneath the withered leaves, 
The sweetest flowers are growing." 

Froebel would have us bring the children into loving relations with our- 
selves and with Nature, and in this connection he says, " Children must first 
read the book which God himself has given to humanity to read in its child- 
hood — namely, the world which he has created and in which he has manifested 
his divine thoughts." 

We may now take up the practical use of the second gift. The child is 
first shown the ball, which he recognizes as having the same form as his first 
playfellow. He feels of it and is told that this is a smooth ball, and he com- 
pares it with the rough ball and other rough and smooth objects. This ball is 
also hard, is noisy, and is made of wood. Comparisons are made gradually, 
and other hard, wooden, quiet and noisy things are found and talked about. 
The child learns the new word, sphere. The games for the first gift may be 
played again, as for instance, the following : 

" Roll over, come back here, so merry and free, 
My playfellow dear, who shares in my glee." * 

After the ball, the cube is shown as the greatest contrast ; but, as Froebel 
says, " Children should never be left alone with disconnected opposites," and 



* Madam Kraus in her Kindergarten Guide gives many rhymes and songs for the first and second gifts. 



40 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



the cylinder must soon be added to these. Talk abottt^the cube's faces, corners 
and edges. Bring out positions — front, back, top, bottom, right and left, 
always mentioning the opposites. Let the child find the corner at the right- 
hand side in front, and its opposite at the left-hand side at the back. Let him 
take the cube in his hand and feel the smooth, square faces and the sharp 
corners and edges which were not found when the ball was held. Let him 
compare it to a house, a cart or a box. 

Introduce the cylinder, and note its points of similarity and difference as 
compared with the ball and cube. It combines the motion of the ball with the 
rest of the cube, and it has flat faces and a curved surface. The child may 
compare it with a rolling-pin, a boiler, a tree-trunk, or part of his own body. 
Give the names ball, cube and cylinder, and when the child knows the forms 
and can call them by name, test his knowledge by allowing him to feel the 
forms without seeing them. Ask him to name the forms, and to tell why he 






Illustration No. 38. 



Illustration Ko. 39. 



Illustration No. 40. 





Illustration No. 41. 



Illustration No. 42. 



knows what they are without seeing them. This practice will increase both 
the perceptive powers and the memory. 

The ball, cube and cylinder may be modeled in clay, and also forms that 
lead out from them, such as apples, boxes, rolling-pins, bottles, etc. For the 
cube, roll the clay between the palms of the hand still it begins to look like a 
ball, and then pat the sides on a smooth surface. Follow the same general 
plan for the cylinder, patting the ends, rolling the sides, and taking care that 
the ends do not become hollowed. 

Sewing may now be commenced. For it, use stiff white Bristol paper or 
the best quality of manila. First, take a piece four inches square, and upon it 
draw a circle two and a half inches in diameter by using a string and pencil, 
or by placing some round object on the card and drawing round it. Prick this 
•circle with a small hat-pin, laying the card on a piece of thick cloth, and let 



THE SECOND GIFT. 



41 



the child sew through the holes, at first leaving out every other stitch, or, as we 
say, " leaving the gates open." After he has sewed, perhaps, two cards in this 
way, he may sew round them again and " close the gates." Always insist that 





Illustration Xo. 43. 

the sewing shall be neat and regular on the wrong side, and in case of careless 
work, have the stitches taken out and done over, that no untidy habit be formed. 

Circles may be sewed in each of 
the si^ colors, and then the three 
primary colors may be used for 
three small circles on one card, 
ILLUSTKATIOK Xo. 44. and also the secondary colors. 

Next, the six colors may be used 
on one card in circles placed one within another, the colors being arranged in 
their regular order — red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. The various 
straight lines may also be thus 
taught, and so may designs that 
follow from the straight line and 
circle. The ingenious mother or 
Kindergartner can devise pat- Illustration Xo. 45. 

terns, and the child may invent by 

using discarded pasteboards that have held buttons. (Illustrations Nos. 38 to 42.) 

Balls, cubes and cylinders are manufactured for stringing on shoe-strings. 

These seldom lose their interest, and memory may be unconsciously cultivated 

by their use. All the balls of one 
color may be strung together, or all 
the cubes or cylinders ; or blue and 
red balls may be arranged in alter- 
nation, or the six colors in their 




^ 



Illustration No. 46. 




Illustration 
No. 47. 



Illustration Xo. 48. 



order ; or a cube, a cylinder and a ball may be strung in regular order in the 
six colors. The balls may be made by soaking dry peas, piercing them, and 
coloring them with aniline dyes. The cylinders can be made of elder stems, 



42 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

and the cubes by procuring a square stick one indi or half an inch each way, 
and sawing it into suitable lengths. (Illustrations Nos. 43 to 45.) 

Small circles and squares may be cut from colored paper and pasted in 
patterns, which the older children may draw and cut out with blunt-pointed 
scissors. This work affords excellent training for both eye and hand. (Illus- 
trations Nos. 46 to 48.) 

" Mr. Cube stands firm and he never falls, 
With his corners and his edges and his six square wal's. 

" The little ball rolls round him ; he is full of fun, 
And he's not a bit afraid, for he knows the cube can't run. 

"Now here comes the roller, standing straight and tall ; 
You, better keep away, you roguish little ball. 

"But the ball keeps on rolling ; he doesn't stop to plav. 
Till the roller tries to catch him, and then he runs away." 



FOURTH PAPER, 

THE THIRD GIFT. 

Our treatment of this gift will include a brief review of principles, a 
description of the gift and its proper handling, a comparison of it with the 
second gift, and a consideration of its adaptation to the child, of its use in 
" sequences " of knowledge, life and beauty, and of its psychology. 

From the foregoing papers we may evolve the following principles : — 

The New Education involves the heart as well as the mind and body, or is 
a setting free of all the powers in an orderly and harmonious way. 

Development begins with the child's birth ; therefore, his education must 
begin then. 

Each stage of development depends for its own perfection on the perfection 
of the stages before it. Viewed from this standpoint, the early development is 
of much importance. 

Physical, spiritual and mental development proceed together, not separately. 
But the child's first manifestation (motion) is physical, and for that reason early 
development deals with the physical, and influences the child spiritually and 
mentally through the exercise of his senses. 

The child's instinctive utterances furnish the key to the right mode of pro- 
cedure. As color and movement appeal to the child very early, the ball, by its 
bright hue, extreme simplicity and various activities, seems most suitable for 
the first plaything. 

The second gift is the basis of the Kindergarten system, while the law of 
unity it exemplifies furnishes a guide for both theory and practice, because it 
leads along the lines of Nature. 

The first and second gifts are classed as the '' Nursery Set," for, as selected 



THE THIRD GIFT. 



43 




iLLiUSTRATIOlSr ISTo. 49. 



symbols, they answer to the early symbolic stage of the child. The race has 
developed by experiences and experiments from ignorance to culture, and the 
individual follows the same method. In this process he uses symbolic or ma- 
terial things as an aid to the understanding of the intellectual. 

The third, fourth, fifth and sixth gifts Froebel denominated the " Build- 
ing Gifts," and in taking up the third gift we deal with the first of this second 
series. These four gifts meet the child's instinctive desire for investigation and 
construction. 

The third gift (illustration No. 49) comes packed for use in a dark-colored 
cubical wooden box measuring about two inches and a half each way and fur- 
nished with a sliding cover. The tables at which the 
children sit for their gift and occupation work have 
their surfaces ruled in one-inch squares that are very 
helpful in measurement and position. For the use of 
the gift in the home, a sheet of blotting-paper or a 
piece of dark muslin to fit the little one's table may be 
ruled in squares and, when needed, tied upon the 
table from underneath with strings. The gift can be 
made at home or by a carpenter. 
As soon as the box containing the gift is presented, the child recognizes it 
as another cube, and it is well to talk about it and compare it with other boxes. 
Place the box at the edge of the table with the top down, draw out the cover, 
lift the box, put the lid diagonally inside, and place the box where it will not in- 
terfere with the lesson. Move the gift four inches back from the edge of the 
table. 

At first the Kindergartner has but one cube, in order to concentrate the 
attention of the children. Counting up to twelve has already been given in 
teaching the edges of the second-gift cube, and when 
the third gift is presented to the children, this same 
order should be preserved. After the lesson is fin- 
ished and the large cube rebuilt (never put the small 
cubes singly into the box), place the gift on the lid, 
put the box over it, and invert carefully. Slide in the 
lid, and put the box away before any other work is 
commenced. In this way children may be taught to 
gather up their playthings and w^ill simply consider 
such care part of the play. 

A two-inch cube of wood is before us, being sim- 
ilar in material and size to the cube of the second gift, 
but differing in that it is divided into parts. (Illustra- 
tions Nos. 50 and 51). One horizontal and two ver- 
tical cuttings separate it into eight one-inch cubes, and 
it is, therefore, one step in advance of the first cube. As a whole it differs 
from the first cube only in divisibility ; its parts are cubes which differ from the 
first cube only in size, each being like the whole cube, but smaller. 




Illustratiox No. 50. 




Illustration No 51. 



44 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

While the third gift is associated with the second on account of its similar- 
ity in size and material, and the child is interested because of this likeness, his 
attention is fixed and kept by the contrast between the two gifts. Thus, he is 
taken in a natural way from what he already knows into a wid^r field of knowl- 
edge. The similarity is sufficient to keep in mind the connection between the 
two playthings, and the contrast is great enough to sustain the little one's 
interest. The child compares the second and third gifts in regard to faces, 
corners, edges, direction and element of rest, and in this way his memory is 
tested and he is also led to commence a classification of objects by deciding that 
all bodies of similar proportions and qualities must be cubical in form. This 
influence is likewise exerted when he is examining the parts, since each is the 
exact counterpart of the whole cube save in size. 

The gift is perfectly adapted to the child's limited physical strength. He 
can learn to handle it lightly and easily, thus gaining both delicacy and pre- 
cision of touch. Ideas regarding correctness of form, position and order are 
gained, and exactness of language and accuracy and minuteness of description 
are insensibly acquired. It is said that the study of botany is especially valua- 
ble, because it sharpens the powers of observation and trains the mind for accu- 
rate description and systematic classification ; Froebel has put much of this 
quality into his gift-work and begins to exert it upon the young mind. 

The third gift is given to the child when his desire for investigation is first 
manifested. Without a division of a substance into its parts, the best knowl- 
edge cannot be attained ; so the child is encouraged to follow his instinctive 
wish to see the construction of things. He is delighted to take his cube apart, 
examine the pieces, and build them up again, or, by rearranging, discover new 
qualities and uses. He may do all this without adding to his destructive ten- 
dency, and he does not meet with the disappointment he finds in his other play- 
things, when, having taken them apart, he finds he cannot put them together 
again. The desire to look at the interior of things is the germ of the fullest 
development, the beginning of the formation of the scientific mind. Froebel 
traced this manifestation to see what it indicated in man, and upon the facts 
discovered he based the Kindergarten gifts and occupations. 

Children reproduce in play what they see and know. In this way, the third 
gift gives much pleasure, because it can be used for building purposes. The 
child may embody his desire for possession or property by making a garden 
and building a wall around it, and a house to live in. That this building play 
might have a purpose and lead to orderly thinking, Froebel devised what is 
called the '* sequence." The word itself is derived from the Latin verb seqiior^ 
to follow after, and means a following from what went before, each point being 
a step in advance of the previous one ; and if from any given point the steps are 
retraced, the first will be again reached. 

There are three classes of sequences : First, those that represent /J^rwj- of 
knoivledge; second, those that representyi7r-';zi- of life j and third, those that rep- 
resent forms of beauty. 

Forms of hioivledge are forms illustrating mathematical facts, as number, 



THE THIRD GIFT. 



45. 



proportion, order, etc. Forf?is of life diVt m.odiQ\s representing living objects or 
articles seen in daily life. Forms of beauty are symmetrical patterns that are 
not necessarily forms of knowledge or of life, but may, however, be both. By 
the use of the gift in sequences, the child is led into the living world around 
him. 

FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE— The first idea of the third gift is a whole that 
can be divided into its parts, and it thus gives a conception of the whole, of its 
parts, of comparative size, and of the properties and relations of numbers. The 
terms front^ back, right, left, top and bottom, and the naming of opposites are re- 
viewed, and also the directions of the different lines. The cube is divided into 






Illustration No. 52. 



Illustration No. 53. Illustration No. 54. 



halves in every way, so that it has top and bottom halves, right and left halves 
and front and back halves. (Illustrations Nos. 52, 53 and 54.) These are all 





Illustration No. 55. 



Illustration No. 56. Illustration No. 57. 



measured in their three dimensions. The halves may be divided into halves, 
producing quarters of the whole cube. (Illustrations Nos. 55 and 56.) Also 
show that two-fourths equals one-half and that three-fourths is greater than 
one-half or two-fourths. (Illustrations Nos. 57 and 58.) 




Illustration No. 58. 



Illustration No. 59. 



Illustration No. 60. 



Divide the quarters into halves, forming eighths (illustration No. 59), and 
show that two-eighths equals one-quarter, and that one-half of one-quarter is 
one-eighth (illustration No. 60) ; also that eight-eighths equals one whole, and 
four-eighths one-half. Lessons in addition and subtraction may be taught, as, 
that one plus one equals two, two plus one equals three, and one from twa 



46 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



leaves one. Multiplication and division of twos ma}Lbe taught up to twelve by 
grouping the twos» Much of this work must necessarily depend upon the growth 
of the child, the instructor being careful not to force him, and making sure that 
what has preceded is understood before new steps are taken. Teach the chil- 
dren to use correct language in their answers, and encourage them to investi- 
gate and tell the results. 

To acquaint the children with the parts, give a simple sequence thus : 
Draw the front half two inches away from the others and consider the result as 
the walls on the two sides of a country road. Measure their height and length, 
and tell a short story about the road. Push the halves together, and separate 
them again, right and left, to make another road crossing the first. Put them 
together, and remove the top half two inches to the right, thus forming two 
tables for a tea-party. Find how wide, how long and how high they are. 

To bring out the number and positions of the faces, call the cube a house, 

and tell what can be seen from the top, 
from the front, from the back and from 
the right and left sides. Show the edges 
and their directions by building floors, 
walls and columns of different heights 
and lengths, front and back, right and 
left, up and down ; as, a floor four inches 
long, two inches wide and one inch high, 
or a column whose upper and lower faces 
are squares, and whose sides are oblongs 
eight inches high, four inches high, or two 
inches high, making four of the last. 
Locate the corners, as, two in front on 
top, two at the back on top, two in front 
at the bottom, and two at the back at 
the bottom. (Illustrations Nos. 6i, 62 
and 63.) Now find the opposite corners. 

LIFE SEQUENCES — Precision, order and regularity should be insisted 
upon. As far as possible have the steps taken from dictation rather than by 
imitation, to cultivate attention and concentration. First show the ways cubes 
touch each other, as face to face, right and left, front and back (illustration 




Illustration No. 61. 




Illustkation No. 62. 



Illustration 

No. 63. 







iLIiUSTRATION NO. 64. ILLUSTRATION NO. 65. ILLUSTRATION NO. 66. IlLUS'N NO. 67- 



No. 64), edge to edge, corners front, faces front right and left, front and back 
(illustrations Nos. 65 and 66), edge to center of face at right, left, front and 
back (illustration No. 67). 



THE THIRD GIFT. 



47 



To add to the interest,, connect a simple story witli the forms built, or let 
one child tell of something he has seen, and illustrate the account by building 
the object. Let the children invent and tell a story about the form. All the 
cubes are to be used in building, as otherwise the relation between the parts 
would be destroyed. Build walls and platforms and measure them. Do not 
describe the figure to the child before building, but let him build and notice 





Illustration No. 68. 



Illustration Xo. 69. 



what he has done. Follow the same two rules for yourself. Begin with doing, 
and notice what you have done ; and try to impart some ideas of relative posi- 
tion, as, near together or far apart, or of contrasts like high and low, crooked 
and straight, parts and the whole. 

The following is a life sequence : 

First, A cube. — (Illustration No. 68.) 

Second, Ttvo square platforms. — Top half of cube two inches to the right of 
the bottom. (Illustration No. 69.) 




Illustration jS'o. 70. Illustration Xo. 71. 



Illustration No. 72. 



Third, A long platform. — Join halves. (Illustration No. 70.) 
Fourth, A broad chair. — Two right-hand cubes on top of two left-hand 
cubes. (Illustration No. 71.) 

Fifth, Two chairs. — Divide in halves right and left. (Illustration No. 72.) 





Illustration No. 73. 



Illustration No. 74. 



Sixth, A couch. — Turn and join seats. (Illustration No. 73.) 
Seventh, An engine. — Top right-hand cube on top of cube at the left hand. 
(Illustration No. 74.) 



48 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



Eighth, A church. — Right-hand cube on top at \%it ; next two right-hand 
cubes on top of two cubes touching them. (Illustration No. 75.) 

Ninth, Opening in wall for cannon. — Cube on top at left hand to be put on 
top at right hand. (Illustration No. 76.) 






Illustration No. 75. 



Illustration jSTo. 76. 



Illustration No. 77. 



Tenth, A clock. — Take up cube in the center and place in opening, edge 
down. (Illustration No. 77.) 

Eleventh, A window. — rTake up three top cubes as they stand, place upper 
one in corner formed by the other two, and arrange the latter on their edges 
on remaining cubes. (Illustration No. 78.) 

Twelfth, A tunnel. — Take off three on top and one out of center, build up 
the two columns three inches high, and place the two remaining cubes across 
the top. (Illustration No. 79.) 







Illustration No. 78. Illustration No. 79. Illustration No. 80. Illustration No. 81. 

Thirteenth, A monument. — Take two from top, add one to each column, and 
move the columns together. (Illustration No. 80.) 

Fourteenth, A cube. — Take off top half, and place it in front of the lower 
half. (Illustration No. 81.) 

When a story is told the sequence may illustrate the story, or the story 
may be used simply to lend interest to the sequence ; it is also an open 
question among Kindergartners as to whether sequences by dictation should 
predominate, or the children should be urged to invent their own sequences. 
The following very simple story will show mothers how a narrative may be 
connected with the above sequence : 

A Visit to Grandmamma. — Willie is a little boy who lives in a large city. 
He is a very good friend of mine and often tells me about his new playthings 



THE THIRD GIFT. 49 

and where he has been and what he has seen. One place that he never grows 
tired of is his grandmamma's house in the country. Grandmamma is quite an 
old lady, with white hair, and wears a cap ; but she has a bright smile and a 
warm heart, and enjoys making happy all the children who visit her. AVillie 
paid her a long visit last Summer, and now that he has returned to the city, he 
likes to build with the cubes, different things in grandmamma's house and barn 
and in the quaint old town near w-hich she lives. He says the cube looks like 
the square, old-fashioned house {dictation). The tivo square platforhis belong to 
the scales for weighing potatoes, grain, apples — and little boys, too, when the new 
milk and fresh country air make them grow a great deal {liictatioii). The lojig 
platform is in the barn. Here the loads of hay are weighed, and the fat oxen 
{dictatioii). Grandmamma has a broad chair {dictatioit)^ two little chairs (dictation)^ 
and a large mahogany couch in the sitting-room [dictatioii). This couch is so 
long and broad that it makes a very comfortable place to sleep on, Willie 
often takes a nap there when he is tired from playing in the hay. The engine 
{dictatioii) for the train running through the town looks something like this 
form of cubes, and the church looks like this {ilictation)^ with its 

" Bell in the steeple, 
Calling all the good people." 

The most curious thing, though, is the wall with cannon-openings., high above 
the town {dictation). This was built years ago in time of war to prevent the 
enemy's ships from sailing up the river near by. One large building in the cen- 
ter of the town has a toivji-clock {dictation), and the new library has a handsome 
colored windoiv in front {dictation). When Willie came to the city through the 
tunnel {dictation^., with high walls like the walls of the cube [dictation), it seemed a 
long time before he could go again to grandmamma's house. 

Sequences. — The law of unity, here operating as the law of opposites, is dis- 
tinctly brought out in forms of beauty, for all the changes of form are to be 
made by opposites ; that is, if a cube is moved in front, a corresponding move 
must be made at the back. In this way symmetrical patterns are laid and a 
love of the beautiful is cultivated. These forms, being only one block in 
height, represent outlines of surfaces and are each formed, according to the 
rules of drawing, around some point as a base or center. 
Notice the spaces enclosed. 

The sequences given in this paper are very simple, but by 
working with the gift, the child will continually find new combi- 
nations. These combinations are exhaustively treated in 
Madam Kraus's Guide and in Wiebe's Paradise of Childhood. 
Here is a sequence of beauty : 

Form hollow square, face front, by placing the two cubes Illfrtratiox 
on top at the right, at the side, touching ; the two on top at the 
left, in front, one right and one left, w^ith their faces touching ; and draw out 
center cube. (Illustration No. ^2)) 






50 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



Turn the cubes in the corners by opposites diagonally. (Illustration No. 83.) 
Pull out the inside cubes by opposites, at the front, back, right and left, 
till they are even with the others. (Illustration No. 84.) 









I 




»^^^ 





Illustration No. 83. 



Illustration No. 84. 



Illustration No. 85. 



Push in the cubes at the corners till their edges meet, leaving a square 
with corner front, in the center. (Illustration No. 85.) 

Turn the cubes at the front, back, right and left into the vacant spaces 
before them, with corners front. This forms a hollow square with corner 
front. (Illustration No. 86.) 





Illustration No. 86. 



Illustration No. 87. 



Pull out the cube in the middle of each side till it touches at the corners. 
(Illustration No. 87.) 

Turn by opposites the cubes of the new sides formed, till they stand faces 
out instead of corners. (Illustration No. 88.) 












mm<[% 







1 


! 






1 




1 




1 1 

1 


1 


li 1 i! 



Illustration No. 88. 



Illustration No. 89. 



Illustration No. 90. 



Push the cubes just turned into the center, till their corners touch. (Illus- 
tration No. 89.) 

Turn corner cubes into corners. (Illustration No. 90.) This brings us back 



THE THIRD GIFT. 51 

to the first step. Then rebuild accor-ding to these directions reversed. In 
giving the above, dictate position of one cube and then that of its opposite. 

The formulae of the second and third gifts are those given by Mrs. Hubbard: 

The outside of anything is called its surface. 

Surfaces are of two general classes, plane and curved surfaces. 

The various divisions of a surface are called the faces of that surface. 

The sphere has one curved face. 

The cylinder has one curved face and two plane faces. 

The cube has six plane faces. 

The sphere is always the same. 

The cube turned on its face looks like a cylinder. 

The cube turned on its corner looks like a top. 

The cube turned on its edge looks like a cylinder with a circle around it. 

The cylinder turned on its plane face remains a cylinder. 

The cylinder turned on its curved face looks like a sphere. 

The cylinder turned on its edge looks like a top. 

The cylinder has two changes and the cube three changes ; the sphere 
never changes. 

The cube has six faces, eight corners and twelve edges (number). 

The cube has one face above, one below, one in front, one at the back, one 
at the right and one at the left. 

The cube has eight corners, four above and four below. 

The cube has twelve edges, four running up and down, four running from 
front to back, and four running from right to left. 

The cube has two corners above in front. 

The cube has two corners below at the back. 

The cube has two corners above at the back. 

The cube has two corners below in front (position). 

The cube has two edges running up and down in front. 

The cube has two edges running up and down at the back. 

The cube has two edges running from front to back on top. 

The cube has two edges running from front to back at the bottom. 

The cube has two edges running from right to left on top. 

The cube has two edges running from right to left at the bottom. 

The faces of the cube are plane. 

The faces of the cube are equal. 

The faces of the cube are square. 

Definition. — A cube is a solid having six equal square faces. 

The square has four sides and four angles. (Quadrilateral.) 

The opposite sides of the square are parallel. (Parallelogram.) 

The angles of a square are right angles. (Rectangle.) 

Definition. — A square has four equal sides and four right angles. 

The oblong has four sides and four angles. (Quadrilateral.) 

The opposite sides of the oblong are parallel. (Parallelogram.) 

The angles of the oblong are right angles. (Rectangle.) 



52 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

The opposite sides of the oblong are equal, but its ad-jacent sides are unequal. 

Definition. — The oblong has four sides and four right angles, and its opposite 
sides are equal, but its adjacent sides are unequal. 

Parallel lines are straight lines which have the same direction. 

An angle is formed by two lines meeting or crossing each other. 

An angle like the angle of a square is called a right angle. When a verti- 
cal and horizontal line meet they form a right angle. 

An angle smaller than a right angle is called an acute angle. 

An angle larger than a right angle is called an obtuse angle. 

Summing up the faculties that are exercised by the third gift, we find them 
to be analysis, synthesis, attention, imagination, perception, conception, forma- 
tive and expressive powers, language, social relations, and mathematical appre- 
ciation of size, form and position. First, the child's attention is gained by 
likeness to and contrast with the second gift, and is kept by a story connecting 
the forms through the force of interest and novelty. He is led out into the living 
world, there to take notice of objects by comparison and to learn of their prop- 
erties by induction. It is necessary to observe relations in order to have clear 
perceptions, which are the foundation of conception. He proceeds from a con- 
ception of a cube as a unit to an understanding of the parts of which it is com- 
posed, and thus gains analysis ; and the analyzed parts he rebuilds into the 
original or new wholes, ending his anaylsis in synthesis. 

His comparisons with the second gift test his memory in calling up the 
points of similarity, and also develop the power of classification and generaliza- 
tion by leading him to decide that bodies of similar proportions and qualities 
must be cubical in form. The child takes the cube as a whole from the box 
and returns it in like manner, thus giving lessons in order and precision. All 
the parts of the gift are used to show how things are mutually related, how each 
is needed to complete the whole ; each has its appointed place. 

Nothing useless is or low, 

Each thing in its place is best ; 
And what seems but idle show 

Strengthens and supports the rest. 

Longfellow's Builders. 

The child is happy in playing with his gift, and seeks to embody his own 
ideas in tangible form. Both his formative and expressive powers are exercised. 
He invents and represents objects, clothing them with life, and thus developing 
originality and imagination. Forms of knowledge help to develop judgment 
and reasoning through the exactness of statements involved ; and through the 
forms of beauty is gained a love of the beautiful. The child seeks the origin of 
beauty and is led to God, the first great Cause, and his spiritual nature is thus 
appealed to. 

The will is cultivated through pleasure, because he sees that an orderly way 
is the best and quickest way to gain the desired end, that greatest liberty comes 
through obedience to law. Socially, he learns self-control, patience, persever- 



THE FOURTH GIFT. 



53 



ance and sympathy by contact with his playfellows ; and in all this he believes 
he has free choice. " The Kindergarten institution is eminently fit to educate 
free citizens of d.free country." 

For further reading on the third gift see ; Pai-adise of Childhood^ by Edward 
Wiebe; The Kindergarten Guide, by Mme, Kraus-Boelt. 




Illustration 
No. 91. 



FIFTH PAPER* 

THE FOURTH GIFT. 

THE fourth Kindergarten gift (see illustration No. 91) 
is another two-inch wooden cube of the same size as those 
of the second and third gifts. This cube is divided by 
four cuttings into eight parallelopipeds. These cuttings 
will be designated as one vertical and three horizontal, 
three vertical and one horizontal, or four vertical, according 
to the position of the gift. (Illustrations Nos. 92 and 93.) 
The position usually adopted in starting is the one ar- 
ranging one vertical and three horizontal cuts. For convenience, the paral- 
lelopipeds will be called bricks, because their dimensions are in the same pro- 
portions to one another as are those of a building brick, the latter being two inches 
thick, four inches wide and eight inches long, while each brick in the gift meas- 
ures one-half inch, by one inch, by 
two inches. Thus, the width is 
twice the thickness and the length 
twice the width, or four times the 
thickness. (Illustration No. 94.) 

The fourth gift follows the 
third in a logical way. (Illustra- 
tions Nos. 95 and 96.) Both are 
made of the same material, wood, 
and they are alike in shape, weight 
and bulk. Both are wholes divided 
into eight equal parts, to be used 
for new combinations and construc- 
tions. The third gift has parts 
that are each like the whole in form 
and proportion, but the parts of the 
fourth gift are unlike the whole, and 
their dimensions are unequal. The 
unequal dimensions, the new use of one-half, and the laws of balance and com- 
municated motion are the main characteristics of this plaything, and these 
characteristics are best learned by experiences through play. By a carefully 
directed handling of the gift, the thought embodied in it may be brought to the 




Illustkation No. 92. 





Illustration No. 93. 



Illustration No. 94. 





Illustration No. 95. 



Illustration No. 96. 



54 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

child's consciousness. He really knows the form as regards faces, dimensions, 
proportions and the relation of parts to the whole ; he can use the material 
intelligently and creatively ; but he is not to be called upon to formulate or 
abstract this knowledge. 

The faces of both the third and fourth gifts, as wholes, are square. Their 

lines are all right lines, and, therefore, their angles are all right angles. With 

the third gift the square faces are so constantly before the child that he soon 

gains a true conception of a square, while the use of the gift 

^^^l^^^^^^l gives him experience of a form not square ; and this leads up 

iiTlii^.. to the fourth gift. The latter is sugsfested in the third bv the 

••••^Lj^!J-'^^'" union of two cubes face to face, which form a parallelopiped of 

Illustration the same length, width and height as two bricks of the fourth. 

No. 97. Two cubes are equal in volume to two bricks; therefore, one 

^^^ cube is equal to one brick. This will come to the child from 

gf^^-SijI his handling of the two forms. He will see that if a brick 

If l^^p^"' be cut in half breadthwise and one part placed above the 

" "" other, the cube will be formed. This may be illustrated in 

No. 98. ^ ^^^y ^^ soap. The wholes of both gifts are equal, and so are 

the halves, quarters and eighths ; therefore, solids may be 

equal, though differing in form. (Illustrations Nos. 97 and 98.) 

The faces of the third and fourth gifts differ, as indicated by the following 
statement : 

In the third gift — 

Top and bottom faces are respectively four squares. 
Front and back faces are respectively four squares. 
Right and left faces are respectively four squares. 
Therefore, all the faces are squares. 
In the fourth gift — 

Top and bottom faces are respectively two oblongs. 
Front and back faces are respectively eight oblongs. 
Right and left faces are respectively four oblongs. 
Therefore^ all the faces are oblongs. All the faces of each brick are oblongs 
of various sizes, and the child must be brought to see this clearly to fix the 
concept of an oblong in his mind. 

It has been shown that the divisions of both gifts are alike in volume. In 
appearance — 

The halves of the fourth gift are like the halves of the third gift. 

The quarters of the fourth gift are like the quarters of the third gift^ 

but 
The eighths of the fourth gift are unlike the eighths of the third gift. 
A cube of the third gift is a rectangular prism having six square faces. A 
brick of the fourth gift is a rectangular prism having six oblong faces. The 
brick, like the cube, has six faces, eight corners and twelve edges. The faces 
of the brick are in three pairs : two broad faces, two long, narrow faces and 
two short, narrow faces. 



THE FOURTH GIFT. 



55 



The broad faces are two inches long and one inch wide. 

The long, narrow faces are two inches long and half an inch wide. 

The short, narrow faces are one inch long and half an inch wide. 
The fourth gift exceeds the third in possibilities of position. The cube 
can only stand, and it presents either a square face or a corner. While the 
cube is always the same height, the brick can be tall, short or medium. Like 
the child, it can stand, sit or lie down. Each brick can be placed in nine dif- 
ferent positions. These positions are : standing, lying and sitting (illustrations 
Nos. 99, loo and loi), three of each. The brick m2.y stand with its broad face. 






Illustbation No. 99. 



Illitstration No. 100. 



Illustration No. 101. 





Illustration No. 102. 



Illustration No. 103. 





Illustration 
No. 105. 



Illustration No. 104. 

its long, narrow face or its corner toward you ; it may lie 
with its long, narrow face, its short, narrow face or its cor- 
ner toward you ; it may sit with its broad face, its short, 
narrow face or its corner toward you. These positions in- 
clude the directions, right and left, front and back, up and down and diagonal, 
previously presented, and they give a more distinct meaning to the terms per- 
pendicular and horizontal. 

In the cubes of the third gift the measurements are confined to one inch, 
while in the bricks of the fourth gift the two new measurements of two inches 
and a half inch appear. In the third gift the number three is brought out in 
the three cuttings, and in the fourth this is emphasized in the three horizontal 
cuttings, three vertical cuttings (when on long, narrow faces) and three pairs of 
faces in each brick. 

The fourth gift also possesses advantages for the enclosure of space. The 
largest quadrilateral enclosure possible with the third gift is four square inches 
(illustration No. 102), and the smallest is one square inch (illustration No. 103). 



■56 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



The largest enclosure possible with the fourth giftr^is sixteen square inches 
{illustration No. 104), and the smallest is one-quarter square inch (illustration 
No. 105). 

By placing the bricks of the fourth gift on their short, narrow faces, one 

upon another, we can form a pile sixteen inches high (illustration No. 106) ; by 

placing them on their long, narrow faces, a pile eight inches high (illustration 

No. 107) ; and by placing them on their broad faces, a pile four inches in height 

(illustration No. 108). In the third gift the piles can be no less 

than one inch (illustration No. 109) or more than eight inches 

(illustration No. no) in height. In the fourth we can get a 

height of half an inch (illustration No. iii), of one inch in two 

ways (illustrations Nos. 112 and 113), of two inches in three ways 

(illustrations Nos. 114, 115 and 116), of four inches in two ways 

(illustrations Nos. 117 and 118), and of eight inches in two ways 

(illustrations Nos. 119 and 120). 

The law of equilibrium may be explained by placing the 
center of the broad face of one brick across the end of another. 
(Illustration No. 121). Communicated motion may be illustrated 
by standing the bricks in a row and then pushing the last or first 
towards the one next it. (Illustrations Nos. 122 and 123.) The 

greater possibilities of the fourth gift lead 
the child to further development, to a 
greater knowledge of form and number, 
and he can make better constructions in 
his building. 

Forms of life, beauty and knowledge 

apply to this gift 
as to the third. 
The three call for 
doing, feeling and 
thinking. The 
rule given last 






Illustration 
No. 106. 



Illustration 
No. 107. 



Illustration 
No. 108. 



Illustration 
No. 109. 



month as to the opening of the box applies also to the fourth gift. The latter 
•should stand as a whole before the child ; he should begin his work with it as 
a whole, and he should return it to the box as a whole. This rule, with the use 
of all the parts, and the working of opposites, must be strictly observed in the 
gift work. 

In presenting the fourth gift, the two boxes may first be compared. They 
are alike. Then observe the resemblance between the gifts as wholes, as halves, 



THE FOURTH GIFT. 



57 



as quarters and as eighths, and bring out the distinguishing peculiarities. Let 
the children measure and compare the new surface and find and talk about 
other oblong things, as tables, books, mats, pictures, etc. The brick is made 
of wood, and wood comes from a tree. Examine all the faces of 
the two gifts as wholes. Give exercises on the different posi- 
tions of a single brick, on the ways bricks may touch each other, 
and on the various positions of quarters and halves, as well as the 
positions of the whole gift. Compare two bricks with two cubes, 
to lead the children to see that one brick and one cube are equal. 
Compare the heights of the piles formed with the two gifts, begin- 
ning with one cube and one brick, and leading up to the pile eight 
inches high in the third gift and that sixteen high in the fourth. 
Also give the enclosing of space, the covering of space and the 
building of walls. 

Find edges on top running front and back ; also at the 
bottom ; at the right and left running up and down ; front and 
back running up and down ; right and left. Let the children fix 
the corners, as : two on top in front, two on top at the back, two Illustration 
below in front, two below at the back. Work with the fourth 
gift cultivates exactness and precision as to position and close attention 
to language. From twenty minutes to half an hour each day is sufficient time 
for the gift lesson. The concentration required would be harmful if too pro- 
longed. After the lesson the children should be allowed a short time to make 
what they choose and should be encouraged to invent. 

Moral and social relations may be' cultivated by letting the children work 
as a community, one building a school, another a railway station and another 







Illustkation 
No. 111. 



Illustration 
No, 112. 



Illustration 
No. 113. 



Illustration 
No. 114. 



a church or a store. Each child thus makes something for the common good 
of all. Explain moral obligations and interdependence. 

To make the gift at home, procure from a carpenter a stick eighteen inches 
long, one inch wide and half an inch thick, and saw it in two-inch lengths. 
The extra length allows for waste in sawing. 

Sequences will be given principally by dictation. The following sequence 
shows how the games and songs may be illustrated in the gift work : 

*' This is the meadow, where all the long day, 
Ten little frolicsome lambs are at play. 

These are the measures the good farmer brings 
Salt in, or corn-meal and other good things. 



58 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 





Illustration 
No. 115. 



Illustratiox 

No. 116. 



This is the lambkins' own big water-trough, 
Drink, little lambkins, and then scamper off. 

This is the rack where in Winter they feed ; 
Hay makes a very good dinner indeed. 

These are the big shears to shear the old sheep ; 
Dear little lambkins their soft wool may keep. 

Here with its big double doors shut so tight, 
This is the barn where they all sleep all night." * 

Open the box in the usual way, and arrange the gift to show one vertical and 
three horizontal cuttings, with the short, narrow faces front. Take the right- 
hand brick on top and place it on its 
long, narrow face, with the broad face 
front, four inches back from the edge of 
the table. Now place the left-hand brick 
on top four inches back of the first one 
and in a corresponding position. Lay the 
next two bricks respectively at the right 
and left on their long, narrow faces, with 
the short, narrow faces front ; and the 
next two diagonally on their long, narrow 
faces, one at the right-hand corner at 
the back and the other at the left-hand 
corner in front. There will then be only 
two places not filled in the fence, one at 
the right-hand corner in front and the 
other opposite it at the left-hand at the 
back ; close these gaps in the fence with 
the last two bricks on their long, narrow 
faces, and let all the bricks touch at their corners. This will make a strong 
fence around the meadow for the little lambs. (Illustration No. 124.) 

Soon the farmer comes to feed them. To build the measures for the salt 
and corn-meal, first find the brick at the right-hand side, place the one next it 
at the back so that it will stand right and left, with its short, narrow face 
touching the broad face of the first brick. Now find the one touching the 
latter in front, and turn it like the one just placed. These three bricks make 
the sides and back of one measure. For the bottom, slip the brick that stands 
in front of the fence in between the two sides on its broad face. One measure 
is now finished, and another must be made like it, of the bricks that form the 
left side of the fence. These are t\\^ measures. (Illustration No. 125.) 

When the lambs are thirsty, make the water-trough by joining the two 
measures. (See Illustration No. 126.) 

For the hay-rack^ leave the bottom of the trough for the rack ; stand the 





Illustration 
No. 117. 



Illustration 
No. 118. 



* Nursery Finger Plays., by Emilie Poulsson, published by Lothrop Publishing Company, Boston, Mass. Idea 
of sequence from The Kindergarten Magazine^ March, 1891. 



THE FOURTH GIFT. 



59 



two bricks in front and the one at the right end on their long narrow faces, with 
one end of each on the bottom bricks, and equal spaces between them; and 

place the ones at the back of the 
trough for the little stalls at the 
back. (Illustration No. 127.) 

Now when it is time to shear 
the old sheep, take the two bricks 
in front, stand them on their long, 
narrow faces, and join them by 
their broad faces at the right. 








Illustkation No. 119. Illustration No. 120. 



Illustration No. 121. 



Put together the two at the back in the same way, and join to the first two 
by the short, narrow faces, all running right and left. This is the handle 
of the shears. Take the two bricks lying down, turn them on their long, 
narrow faces, join by their short, narrow faces, and join to the right-hand 
corner in front of the handle. Place the remaining two bricks in a like position 
at the left-hand corner. These are the big s/iears. (Illustration No. 128.) 




Illustration No. 122. 




Illustration No. 123. 

The lambs go to the darn at night. Stand on end the bricks that make the 
blades of the shears. Join two by their long, narrow faces and place them four 
inches back from the edge of the table for the front of the barn, and put the 



GO 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



other two in the same way a little less than an inch feck of these for the back 
of the barn. Find the right-hand bricks of those left on the table, and put one 
of these on its short, narrow face at the right end of the barn, and the other 
similarly at the left end, to close the ends. Join the remaining two bricks by 
their short, narrow faces, and lay them across the top. Now the barn is tight 
and warm, with its big double doors in front. (Illustration No. 129.) 





Illustration No. 124. 



Illustration No. 125. 





Illustration No. 126. 



Illustration No. 127. 





Illustration No. 128. 



Illustration No. 129. 



To rebuild the cube, make a little square of the two bricks on top of the 
barn ; form another square of those at the right and left, and place it on top of 
the others ; then add those at the front and at the back. 

Sequences. — The object of the gift lesson is to arouse the child to volun- 
tary action and effort and to leave him with suggestions of things to do and to 
be. To attain this object, the various Kindergartens are working toward a 
greater inventiveness and spontaneity on the part of the child, with less dicta- 
tion from the Kindergartner. 

The fourth gift is in many ways superior to the third for building, but the 
two may be used together to good advantage, the third providing solid founda- 
tions. One of the most suggestive sequences pertaining to the fourth gift is 
the " baker sequence," which originated in the West. This could follow a lesson 
and game on trades, and would help to teach respect for the various occupa- 
tions, and also the interdependence of people. First show grains of wheat. 
Then fill a glass with water, tie a piece of netting over the top so it will just 



THE FOURTH GIFT. 



61 



touch the water, lay the grains upon the netting, and set the glass in a sunny 
window. Let the children' closely watch the tiny roots sprout downward and 
the blade shoot upward. This can also be shown with other seeds, such as corn, 
lima beans, etc., and will form an interesting beginning for science lessons. If 
the grains of wheat are planted in a field and receive proper care, sunshine and 
rain, they will grow, blossom and bear seed. 

Next show the full-grown spear of wheat, calling attention to the strong 
coverings that are provided to protect the grains from rain, msects and birds. 
Also describe the ploughing and harrowing of the field, and follow this talk with 
the song, " There was a Field that Waiting Lay," from Miss Poulsson's Fi?iger 
Flays and Nursery Songs, or the following from the same book : 

" In my little garden bed, 
Raked so nicely over. 
First the tiny seeds I sow, 
Then with soft earth cover. 

" Shining down the great round sun, 

Smiles upon it often. 
Little raindrops, pattering down, 
Help the seeds to soften. 

" Then the little plants awake, 
Down the roots go creeping, 
Up they lift their tiny heads, 

Through the brown mould peeping. 

" High and higher still they grow, 

Through the Summer hours, 
Till some hajipy day the buds 
Open into flowers." 

After telling how the wheat becomes ripe and ready for cutting, give from 
Merry Songs and Games the songs of " The Farmer," and ** Round and Round It 
Goes," for the mHl-wheel and the miller. The " Baker Song," (music by Miss 
EvaB. Jones) to be given with the sequence, runs thus : 

BAKER SONG. 



I 



* 



lF=j Ff^ 



^m 



^m 



t 



^ 



m 



V=f 



i i I 

her own mak- ing ; 



Now, my child would 



have ns bak- inj; 



Lit- tie cakes of 






r"H i liij-j ^^m 



IS 



I t i 

Emooth and li<rht. 



Pat the cakes so 



soft and white. 



Make thtm round and 



62 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 




i'VJ J Mijij lii ii 



Baker, here are the 



cakes so fine, 



Bake them well for 



t 



F=^ 



this child oi' mine. 



\'''^U ^^ k-^l Jk^ u^NuiV'l 



V':\^^ hi ^ i W^^ J'lj' p 



I'll shove them in -where they 



will not bum. 




To poWen-brown they 



soon will turn ; 



i ' ' ' H.JJiJiJ iJJl l i JJ 



Now, at last, the 



cakes are done. 




'^ySS* good baker, and 



Home we'll run. 



Talks and plays, of which the above gives only the most meagre sugges- 
tion, could be filled in and carried on in the home, and the different employments 
of everyday life could furnish the subjects. Children love to stand by and see 
the bread being kneaded or the cookies rolled out. If the baking table is near 
a window, why not have a glass of wheat growing there ? The wonderful things 
of plant life teach impressive though voiceless lessons of Divine appointments 






Illustration No. 130. Illustration No. 131. 



Illustration No. 132. 





Illustration No. 133. 



Illustration No. 134. 



to both old and young. Some mothers may say, " We are too busy to give our 
children such attention," but is it not just as necessary to direct your chil- 
dren's moral and social natures as it is to clothe and feed their bodies ? 
Remember that companionship with children keeps the heart young, while a 
study of the workings and repose of Nature helps to lift one up above "per- 
sonal cares and anxieties into the big, warm Quiet which is always waiting for 
those who seek it." 



THE FOURTH GIFT. 



63 



The Baker Sequence, — The cube standing with the cuttings right and 
left represents the shop. (Illustration No. 130.) 





Illustration No. 135. 



Illustration No. 136. 






Illustration No. 137. 



Illustration No. 138. 



Illustration No. 139. 



Move the front half of the cube round to the right so that the short, nar- 
row faces touch each other. This will form the shelves in the shop. (Illustra- 
tion No. 131.) 

Take off the top half of the shelves, place it two inches in front, and turn 
both halves to run front and back, for the two counters. (Illustration No. 132.) 





Illustration No. 140. 



Illustration No. 141. 





Illustration No. 142. 



Illustration No. 143. 



Move the front half of the right-hand counter one inch to the front, and do 
the same with the left-hand counter, to form loaves of bread. (Illustration No. 

133.) 

Join the two loaves of bread in front by their long, narrow faces. Do the 



64 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



same with the two at the back. Take off the top hal-Lpf the front, and place it 
in front of and just touching the lower half. Do the same at the back, and 
move this oblong along two inches or more to the right of the other one. In 
this way will be formed the baking sheets, (Illustration No. 134.) 




iLLUSTRATIOIif NO. 144. 



Illustration No. 145. 



Illustration No. 146. 



Join the baking sheets by their long, narrow faces for the 7nouldtng board. 
(Illustration No. 135.) 

Turn the moulding board with the long, narrow faces front. Move the 
two bricks at the back at the right side around so that they touch the two in 
front of them by their short, narrow faces. Then take the two at the left at 
the back, and place one at the middle of each end of the oblong formed by the 
six bricks in front, letting them touch by their short, narrow faces. This makes 
the rolling-pin. (Illustration No. 136.) 





Illustration No. 147. 



Illustration No. 148. 



Now remove the two bricks at the ends, place them together by their short, 
narrow faces, and lay them on their long, narrow faces and touching the two 
bricks at the right hand at the back in the oblong. Place the two in front in a 
corresponding position in front, and stand one of the two remaining bricks at 
each end, letting its broad face touch the other bricks. This makes the fnixing 
pan. (Illustration No. 137.) 

Move the right-hand portion of this structure one inch to the right. Take 
the end brick of the left-hand part, and place it at the left end of the right- 



THE FOURTH GIFT. 



65 



hand part, having it touch by its broad face. Then draw out the middle brick 
of the three at the left and lay it across the right-hand part for a seat. This 
makes the baker's wagoti ; the two bricks at the left are his horses, and should 
be moved back to touch the wagon. (Illustration No. 138.) 





Illcstratiox Xo. 149. 



Illustration Xo. 150. 



Now stand the seat on its short, narrow face at the left hand at the back, 
with its broad face front. Join the two bricks that represent the horses by their 
long, narrow faces, and stand them at the back on top of the wagon next to the 
first brick and in a similar position. This is the baker's money-box. To close it, 
lay the lid down. (Illustrations Nos. 139 and 140.) 

Rebuild the cube. 



SEQUENCE IN THIRD AND FOURTH GIFTS, CO^rBINED. 

Have the two gifts standing side by side on the table. (Illustration No. 141.) 

Remove the top half of the third gift, and place 
it in front of and touching the lower half. Take the 
two top bricks from the fourth gift, and place them 
on their short, narrow faces at the left side of the 
cubes toward the back, and touching. Stand the 
next two bricks on the right side opposite the ones 
just placed. Place the next two on the left side in 
front of the first two, and the remaining two oppo- 
site. The resulting structure is a draw-bridge. (Il- 
lustration No. 142.) 

Divide the draw-bridge in halves right and left, 
to form side car seats. (Illustration No. 143.) 

Move the entire left-hand half around to the 
right so that the two rows of bricks will touch by their broad faces. The 
bricks will thus run between the cubes, forming the backs of the middle car 
seats in a train. (Illustration No. 144.) 

Take out the two lines of bricks, join them by the ends to make a square, 
and lay aside. Move the rows of cubes about an inch and a half apart, and lay 
the square of bricks across the top. This makes a covered tunnel. (Illustration 
No. 145.) 

Remove the four bricks from the top in front, and stand each of the two 
cubes in front on top of the one immediately back of it. Take two of the bricks 
just removed, join them by the ends, and lay them across the cubes in front. 
Lav another brick on its broad face in the middle on top of the two just placed, 




Illustration No. 151. 



66 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



and at the center stand the last brick, with its broad face front. This ingenious 
arrangement is a very good imitation of a statioji. (Illustration No. 146.) 

From the station form a Kindergarten ring. Stand all the bricks upright in a 
circle for the backs of the Kindergarten chairs, and place a cube in front of each 
for a seat. (Illustration No. 147.) 

Reserve four of the chairs. Make a table from the other four by arrang- 
ing the cubes in two pairs about an inch apart, and laying the four bricks across 
the top. Result, a table and four chairs. (Illustration No. 148.) 

Use all the bricks to make a platform four inches long, two inches wide 
and one inch high. Form another platform as long, wide and high, of the 
cubes. Place the two platforms side by side. (Illustration No. 149.) 





Illustration No. 152. 



Illustration No. 153. 





Illustration No. 154. 



Illustration No. 155. 





Illustration No. 156. 



Illustration No. 157. 



To rebuild the gifts, place the front half of each platform on top of the 
back half. (Illustration No. 150.) 

Many other pleasing and natural forms may be built with the two gifts used 
together. Tho. fireplace shown at illustration No. 151 is a good example of the 
possibilities of the simple bricks and cubes. 

Sequence of Beauty. — Make a pin-wheel form of the eight bricks laid on 
their broad faces, placing two in front, two at the back, two at the right and 
two at the left, with a space one inch square at the center. (Illustration No. 

152.) 

Turn the bricks in the corners diagonally. (Illustration No. 153.) 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 



67 



Pull out the bricks at the front, back, right and left until an octagon is 
formed in the center. (Illustration No. 154.) 

Push in the bricks at the corners until they meet. (Illustration No. 155.) 

Turn the brick directly in front around until it runs parallel with and 
touches the one next it on the right. 
Place its opposite at the back in a similar 
position, and do the same at the right and 
left. This gives a pin-wheel form with 
a corner front. (Illustration No. 156.) 

Pull the upper brick at the right-hand 
corner in front out one inch, and do the 
same with its opposite at the back. Then 
pull the lower brick at the left side in 

front out one inch, and do the same with its opposite at the back. The re- 
sulting design has a square cross at the center. (Illustration No. 157.) 

Turn the bricks at the front, back, right and left about until they run true 
and the inner ends form an octagon. (Illustration No. 158.) 

Push in the bricks at the front, back, right and left until they join at the 
center. (Illustration No. 159.) 




Illustkation No. 158. 





Illusteatiois^ No. 159. 



Illustration No. 160. 



Turn the brick in the left-hand corner in front around until it touches and 
runs the same as the one in front ; and do the same with the opposite brick. 
Then turn the brick in the right-hand corner in front, and also its opposite. 
This brings us back to the form with which we started, and from which the 
cube may be easily rebuilt. (Illustration No. 160.) 

For further reading in regard to the fourth gift see : Nursery Finger PlaySy 
by Emilie Poulsson ; The Idea of Sequence^ in the Kindergarten Magazine for 
March, 189 1, 



SIXTH PAPER* 

THE FIFTH GIFT. 



Froebel, when studying the universal plays of childhood, noticed the desire 
to build and provided suitable materials to meet this instinct of the child to 
imitate what he sees in the world around him. Each stage of development de- 
mands particular activities and amusements. The child likes to pull things 



68 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



apart, and then, if possible, to put them together againf^or else to make some- 
thing novel that will express the pictures of his imagination. Thus he dis- 
covers new qualities and uses and so enlarges his experience. 

The fifth gift, the subject of this paper, is the third of the building set. It 
is a three-inch wooden cube divided by four vertical cuts (two front and back 
and two right and left) and two horizontal cuts ; in other words, the cube is 
divided twice in each of its dimensions, the result being twenty-seven one-inch 
cubes. (Illustration No. i6i.) Three of these one-inch cubes are each divided by 





Illustratiox No. 161. 



Illustrations Nos. 162 and 163. 



one diagonal cut into half-cubes or triangular prisms (illustration No. 163), and 
three more are each divided by two diagonal cuts into quarter-cubes or smaller 
triangular prisms. (Illustration No. 162.) The divisions are, therefore, twenty- 
one whole cubes, six half-cubes, and twelve quarter-cubes, thirty-nine parts in all. 
Owing to its one-inch cubes, the fifth gift appears as an elaboration and 
evolution of the third gift, but where the third was divided once in each direc- 
tion, this gift is divided twice. The third is formed of eight cubes, while the 
fifth is made up of twenty-seven ; but though the fifth gift is seen to have some 
points of resemblance to the third, on no account is it to be considered as an 
enlarged third gift. 

The fifth gift is like the fourth in material, and one brick of the fourth, and 

one cube of the fifth are equal in volume. 
Moreover, the fifth is similar in the oblong 
surface, which is brought out in two sizes 
in the half and quarter-cubes. 

The division of three cubes into halves 
and three into quarters gives a new solid, 
the triangular prism. Each of the half- 
cubes is a triangular prism having five faces 
— one oblong, two triangular and two square. 
The twelve quarter-cubes are triangular 
prisms one-half the size of the half-cubes, 
and each has one square face, two oblong faces and two triangular faces. 
(Illustration No. 164 shows half and quarter cubes.) We also have a new square 
prism when two quarter-cubes are joined by their square faces. (Illustration 
No. 165.) 




Illustration No. 164. 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 



69 



Heretofore only vertical and horizontal lines and surfaces have been repre- 
sented, but now these are joined by the slanting line and surface, which connect 
them. The slanting line and surface were anticipated in the third and fourth 







Illustrations Nos. 165 and 166. 



Illustkations Nos. 167 and 168. 




Illustration No. 169. 



gifts when side touched edge, and when one cube was hung edge downward be- 
tween two others, but in the fifth gift the slanting direction is permanent. 
(Illustration No. i66.) 

The use of the slanting line with the vertical and horizontal lines gives a 
new angle, the acute of 45 degrees ; adding this acute angle to a right angle 
in either half or quarter cubes gives still another new solid of two sizes, the 
rhomboidal prism. (Illustrations Nos. 167 and 168.) 

The New Number. — The third and fourth gifts brought out the number 

two and its multiples. The fifth gift, while 
it incidentally gives one of the former multi- 
ples, six, the number of the half-cubes, es- 
pecially emphasizes three and its multiples, 
nine, twelve, twenty-seven and thirty-nine. 
The gift is a three-inch cube. It has 
three horizontal layers, front and back, and 
three vertical layers, right and left. When 
the whole cube is divided by vertical cuts, 
front and back, each part contains upper- 
most one whole cube, one cube divided into halves and one cube divided into 
quarters. 

The New Fraction. — This leads to the new fraction, one-third. The gift 
cannot be easily separated into halves, 
but can be very readily parted into thirds. 
(Illustration No. 169 displays thirds.) 
The thirds may be separated into thirds, 
which will be ninths of the whole. (Illus- 
tration No. 170.) Going further, the 
ninths may be separated into thirds, which 
will be twenty-sevenths of the whole. 
(Illustration No. 171.) ' Thus the math- 
ematical possibilities or forms of knowl- 
edge disclose the whole, halves, quarters, 
thirds, ninths and twenty-sevenths, as 
well as such combinations as three-ninths equal to one-third, six-ninths equal 
to two-thirds, two-fourths equal to one-half, nine-twenty-sevenths equal to 
one-third, etc., which give concrete work for the school. 




Illustration No. 170. 



70 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



The Forms of Life. — The forms of life in th«:_ fifth gift approach very 
nearly to architectural designs, the half and quarter cubes aiding materially, 
with their slanting surfaces, to represent roofs, gable-windows and stoops, as 
well as square towers, etc. 





Illustration No. 172. 



Illustration No. 171. 

When the child built forms with the third and fourth gifts they merely 

suggested the outlines of the things represented. His cube was a house 

because it had four walls, a top and a bottom, and he was just as well satisfied 

as he would have been with a 
more perfect design. His im- 
pressions were too vague and 
imperfect for him to have es- 
pecially noticed slanting roofs 
and chimneys. 

Owing to its many parts 
the fifth gift is much in ad- 
vance of any of the former 
ones, and should not be given 
to very young children. It is 

difficult to handle and requires greater strength and control of the hands, for 

in the building the half and quarter cubes are often used as slanting 

roofs and projections or for square 

towers. These are sometimes 

changed on different faces with- ,, 

out being taken out, or a trian- ^ 

gular prism is stood over a square :! 

tower. Again, larger roofs are I: 

moved off in one handling ; and I 

all this necessitates dexterity and f 

delicacy of touch, while it gives 

excellent training to the fingers. 

The intellectual advancement in perception, attention, imagination and 

language is also great when this gift is faithfully used. This fact is shown in 

the necessary directions given in building, for a half or quarter cube presents 

different appearances according to the positions and directions in which it stands. 

The use of the fifth gift likewise embodies good social training. At first one 




Illustration No. 173. 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 



71 




gift is given to every three children, each child having only one-third. Obedi- 
ence and promptness are 
cultivated, and when three 
children put their work 
together to form some 
special object with the en- 
tire gift, kindly and sym- 
pathetic feelings must ex- 
ist among them to aid in 
the work 'and prevent the 
temptation to destroy. 

Some one has said, 
*' Two cannot work to- 
gether except they be 
Illustration No. 174. agreed," and that is 

the social world in a nutshell. Each child is- stimulated to put forth his 
best efforts, and that without any place-taking, since well-doing is its own 
reward. The slower child is encouraged by his swifter companion, and the 
bright child is taught that his quick fingers are God's gift to him, to be used 
in helping others. The child 
contrasts himself with others, 
imitates and is imitated. In 
this way the Kindergarten gives 
what even the best home train- 
ing cannot give — the compan- 
ionships and competitions of 
life in the right spirit, and 
provides a firm basis for activ- 
ity at school and in the world. 

The Forms of Beauty. — The forms of beauty in the fifth gift include 
many geometrical shapes, besides various pleasing designs which may be used 
for conventional patterns in wall-paper, oil-cloth or tiling. The germ of the 

useful arts is thus fostered. Statistics 
of children who have been trained in this 
way show that more than a few artists 
have traced their first impetus back 
to the Kindergarten. As the Kinder^ 
garten also provides material for laying 
these designs in light and dark woods 
and for pasting them in colored papers, they may be kept in tangible form. 

Sequences in the forms of beauty may present either four-sided or three- 
sided figures. As a sequence would involve too many steps to give a fair idea 
of the pleasing effect, we will simply illustrate the ground form of each, and 
an example of what may be evolved from that ground form. (Illustrations Nos. 
172, i73j 174 and 175.) 




Illustration No. 175. 




Illustration No. 176. 



72 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 





Illustration No. 177. 



Illustration No. 178. 



Use of the Fifth Gift. — The Kindergartner intrwiuces the gift by show- 
ing only one, which stands on her own table. First she compares it with the 
third and fourth as to size. The cube divided into halves may next be shown, 
its different faces taught, dictations given as to plac- 
ing it in different directions, and the new name, tri- 
angular prism, mentioned and commented on. 

Exhibit and explain 
in the same way the cube 
divided into quarters, until 
the children know the 
names and the different 
faces and can place the 

faces in the various directions, make other sizes and 
lengths of triangular prisms of the parts, use them 
with a single whole cube, as at illustration No. 176 
and make whole cubes from halves, and quarters into 
square prisms. 

Next proceed to the thirds, giving the number 
of parts and the measurements, and bringing out 
the idea of one-third, two-thirds and three-thirds ; 
and with older children the ninths and twenty-sev- 
enths may be shown. The child must always build 

up his third or his whole cube. Time should be given with each lesson for free 
play, to encourage inventiveness ; or a lesson might consist in requiring each 
child to build some particular thing suggested by his own ingenuity. 

In this as in the other gifts the rule applies, 
that each form follows in an orderly way from what 
has gone before ; and in every case all the material 
is to be used. Froebel says : " No form is to be torn 
down that something new may be built up from the 
ruins. Orderly doing leads to orderly thinking." 
Keep the position of the half and quarter cubes as 
shown in the illustration of the entire gift. Thus, 
cube is to be stood in the 




Illustration No. 179. 




Illustration No. 180. 



in the third, the whole 
middle on top. 

Sequences in Forms of Life. — The following 
simple sequence shows the first use of one-third.* 

An Excursion to the Sea-Shore. — Take one- 
third of the gift. Place it so it runs right and left, with 
halves on the right, quarters on the left, and a whole 
cube in the center. 




Illustration No. 181. 



Gates to Pass to Ferry. — Draw the three right-hand cubes one inch to the 



* Obtained from Miss F. E, Mann, of New York City, and originated by Miss Gertrude Noyes. The other 
sequences are original. 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 



73 



(lUustra- 




Illustration No. 182. 




Illustration No. 183. 



right, and the three left-hand cubes the same distance to the left. 
tion No. 177.) 

Ferry-Boat. — Draw out the three middle cubes, and lay them on the table 

right and left between the two sides. (Illustra- 
tion No. 178.) 

Bath-Houses. — Remove the upper two right- 
hand cubes and the corresponding two on the left. 
Place one whole cube at the left end in line 
with the others, and locate the remaining whole 
cube in front of the middle two cubes in the row 
and touching them by a face. Make a long tri- 
prism of the two halves, and place it on the front 
cube and over the meeting of the middle two cubes, 
with the three-cornered faces front and back and the 
square faces slanting right and left. Roof the cube 
at each end with a quarter cube, placing the latter 
with its square face downward and its triangular faces 
front and back. Roof the remaining cubes in like 
manner, (Illustration No. 179.) 

Restaurant. — Lift the tri-prism formed of half cubes 
and stand it on one three-cornered face at one side 

to serve as a sign. Place the front cube over the 
crack between the middle two cubes. Move the 
right-hand cube with its roof in front of the next 
cube so the two touch by front and back faces, 
and treat the left-hand two in the same way. Join 
the two halves (which form the sign) by their 
square faces and place them on top of the mid- 
dle cube, with the three-cornered faces front 
and back. Result, a restaurant with a yard for 
tables on warm days. (Illustration No. 180.) 
Aniffial Houses. — Remove the roof from the left- 
hand cubes, place the front left-hand cube on the back 

left-hand cube so it touches 
the tri-prism by an edge, and 
do the same at the right side. 
Make a square prism of two 
quarters, and statid it on the 
left-hand cube ; same at the 
right, (Illustration No. 181.) 
Music Pavilion and Stand. — 
Draw the right-hand cubes one 

inch to the right hand, and the left-hand cubes similarly 
one inch to the left hand. The center piece forms the music stand, and the 
people may be supposed to sit in front of it. (Illustration No. 182.) 




Illustration No. 184. 





Illusthation' No. 185. 



Illustration No. 186. 



74 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 




Illustration 
No. 187, 




Illustration 

No. 188. 



Observation Tower. — Lift off the top middle cutpe and the roof, stand the 
two lower cubes upright, and replace the top middle cube and roof. (Illustra- 
tion No. 183.) 

Gates. — Place the cubes of halves on 
the right-hand cubes and the cubes of 
fourths on the left-hand cubes. Close the 
gates to get the third with which we start- 
ed. (Illustration No. 184.) 

Sequence No. 2. — This sequence is 
more complex. It shows how the forms 
built of one-third may be combined in parts, 
or all put together in one. Each child 
might also use an entire gift, building one form with a third, 
then the next and the next, producing a little village. Use 

only one-third of the gift 
in this sequence. 

Front Elevation of 
the Town- Hall. — Re- 
move the half and the 
quarter cubes. Place 
the half-cubes on their 
square faces upon the 
right and left hand whole 
cubes, touching the cen- 
ter cube by their square 
faces, and wuth their 
slanting faces sloping right and left. Make a square prism 
of two quarters, and stand it on top of the center cube, face front. Over this 
put a half-cube, made of two quarters, with the three-cornered face front. 
(Illustration No. 185.) 

House. — Remove the halves and 
quarters ; move the top cube one inch to 
the left, and on it stand a half cube with 
a three-cornered face front. Take two 
whole cubes from the right, and place them 
in front of the two at the left, right and 
left. Over one just placed make a roof 
with one half-cube, oblong face front. Put 
roof on right-hand back cube with one 
quarter-cube. Make door-steps in front 
with the three remaining quarter-cubes 
by putting two down on their square faces, with the three-cornered faces 
front, and dropping the third quarter-cube in between. (Illustration No. 186.) 
School with Tivo Entrances. — Draw away the door-steps. Turn the right- 
hand part of the house around until it runs right and left and touches the tower. 





Illustration No. 190. 



Illustration No. 189. 




Illustration No. 191. 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 



i.> 



Take the three quarter-cubes that made the door-steps. Put one on the 
extreme right-hand cube of the new building for a roof, with the oblong face 
slanting front. Make steps in front of the right and left hand cubes with the 
two quarter-cubes not yet used. (Illustration No. 187.) 

Church. — Remove the quarter and 
half cubes. Stand the whole cube at the 
left in front on top of the tower back of 
it, and on this place one half-cube on its 
oblong face, with its three-cornered face 
front. Lay the other half-cube on the 
right-hand cube, with its oblong face 
downward, and its square face sloping 
front. Make a square prism of two 
quarter-cubes and place it on top of the 
middle whole cube, face front. On top 
of this place two quarter-cubes made 
into a half-cube. (Illustration No. 188.) 

To Combine : — 



Large Church. — Put the house shown 




Illustration No. 192. 



at illustration No. 186 in front of the 

town hall. (Illustration No. 189.) 

Hotel. — Join the small church to the left of the school, with the highest 

parts in the middle. On the 
left side is a small tower of 
two quarter-cubes. Use the 
two steps in the front to make 
a similar tower at the right, 
taking away the whole cube. 
Raise the building at the left 
with this whole cube. (Illus- 
tration No. 190.) 

If it is desired to use the 
entire fifth gift in one build- 
ing, place the house (one- 
third) in front of the hotel, 

which is composed of the small church (one-third) and the school (one-third). 

Take the door-steps to raise the center tower. The result will be a college. 

(Illustration No. 191.) Other structures calling for the whole gift are Front of 

Ferry-House and Poultry Yard. (Illustrations Nos. 192 and 193.) 




Illustration No. 198. 



76 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 




Illustration iVo. 194. 



Illustration 
Xo. 195. 



SEVENTH PAPER. 

THE SIXTH GIFT. 

The sixth gift (illustration No. 194) concludes the building set. As a whole 
it is like the fifth gift, being a three-inch wooden cube. Like the fifth gift, its 
first division consists of twenty-seven parts, but 
these parts, instead of being one-inch cubes, are 
blocks of the same size and proportions as the 
bricks of the fourth gift. Of these blocks, or 
bricks as we will call them, three are divided 
lengthwise into halves, making long, square prisms 
resembling columns ; and six breadthwise into 
halves, or short, square prisms, called for the sake 
of convenience, half-cubes. Thus 
the parts are : eighteen bricks, 
twelve half-cubes and six columns, in all, thirty-six parts. 

The columns of this gift were foreshadowed in the fifth 
gift when two quarter cubes were joined by square faces. (Illus- 
tration No. 195.) Although, as a whole, it most nearly re- 
sembles the fifth gift, 
the parts are most like 
those of the fourth gift. 
While it is not an en- 
larged fourth gift, it 
may be called its con- 
tinuation. 

For an easier and 
more systematic hand- 
ling, Miss Brooks, of the 
Teachers' College, New York City, has devised the plan of laying the gift out in 
six layers. (Illustration No. 196.) Three of these contain three whole bricks and 
three half-bricks, or half-cubes, the last being made by a crosswise cut 

through the middle of a brick. The other three 
layers consist each of three bricks, one half-cube, 
as described above, and two long, square prisms, 
or columns made by a lengthwise cut through the 
middle of a brick. When spread out upon the 
Illustration Illustration t^t)le, the layers with three bricks and three half- 
No. 197. No. 198. cubes are in front, while the layers with three 

bricks, two columns and one half-cube are laid back. 
In building up the gift the layers alternate. 

Forms of Knowledge. — Taking up the separate parts, we find that the 




Illustration No. 196. 




THE SIXTH GIFT. 



n 



bricks of the sixth gift are like those of the fourth, being two inches long, one 
inch wide and one-half inch thick. The half-cubes, or short, square prisms, are 
one-inch square by one-half inch thick, (Illustration No. 197.) They equal. 





Illustration No. 199. 



Illustkation No. 200. 




one half-brick and also one half-cube. Two of them side by side form one brick.. 

Two, one on top of the other, form one cube. The columns are two inches long,. 

one-half inch wide and one-half inch thick. (Illustration No. 198.) The base 

of each would cover one-fourth square inch. These columns, or long, square 

prisms, equal in volume one half-cube, 

the dimensions being ^ x | x 2 =^ inch. 

The half cube is i x i x^ = ^ inch. In 

the oblong faces of the fourth and sixth 

gifts we approach the surface, while in 

the columns the line is anticipated. 

The fifth gift emphasizes the num- 
ber three, while the sixth brings out 

both the numbers three and six. Two 

layers form one-third of the gift. Four 

layers form two-thirds of the gift. Illusikation No. 201. 

One layer forms one-sixth of the gift. 

Two layers form two-sixths of the gift.. 
Five layers form five-sixths of the gift. 
Two layers would equal each other, and' 
each would equal one-fourth of the re- 
mainder of the gift. Two alternate- 
layers together equal one-third of the 
gift. Two layers of bricks and one 
half-cube equal one-third of. the gift. 
Six bricks and six half-cubes equal 
one-third of the gift. Six bricks and 
Illustration No. 202. six columns equal one-third of the gift. 

Six bricks, three half-cubes and three 

columns equal one-third of the gift. Then the whole gift can be divided into- 




78 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



thirds in three ways, viz : Front and back (illustratian^^No. 199) ; right and /eft 
(illustration No. 200) ; taking two layers from the top (illustration No. 201.) 

It can be divided into halves in only 
one way. (Illustration No. 202). It 
can be laid in three groups, each group 
consisting of two layers, which would 
be one-third of the gift or two-sixths 




Illustration No. 203. 

of it. (Illustration No. 203.) Two of these 
groups could be joined to show one-third and 
two-thirds. (Illustration No, 204.) 

Forms of Comparison. — The sixth gift 
allows of more forms of comparison than any 





Illustration No. 205. 



Illustration No. 204. 

of its predecessors. For 
instance, we have a com- 
parison between short, 
square prisms and long, 
square prisms ; between 
half and whole cubes ; be- 
tween half cubes and 
bricks ; between bricks and 
cubes ; between columns 
and bricks ; between half- 
cubes and columns. We 



can show that two half-cubes 
equal one whole cube ; we 
can show that two half-cubes 
equal one brick ; therefore, 
one cube and one brick 
equal each other. One col- 
umn equals one half brick. 
One column equals one half- 
cube. 

Figures may differ in size 
and shape and yet be equal in 
volume. Thus, the sixth gift 

emphasizes the proportion of different parts in respect to size, and gives a clear 
idea of forms, their position and number. 

Forms of Beauty. — The forms of beauty in the sixth gift are less diversi- 




Illustration No. 206. 



THE SIXTH GIFT. 



79 




Illustration No. 207. 



fied than those of the fifth. For the square forms it is necessary to place two 
columns in the center, one above the other. A ground form is shown in the 
square and triangle with one pat- 
tern that may be derived from it. 
(Illustrations Nos. 205, 206, 207 
and 208.) (For further work 
see Wiebe's Pdradise of Child- 
hood^ 

Forms of Life. — The sixth 
gift admits of many forms of life 
and is especially valuable for build- 
ing purposes, the structures bear- 
ing a close resemblance to Greek architecture. (Illustration No. 209.*) This 
gift is introduced after the children have become acquainted with, but not tired 

of, the fifth gift. It is com- 
pared as a whole with its pred- 
ecessor, the different ways for 
dividing both being pointed 
out. Then a brick is taken 
up for comparison, after that 
the columns, which are meas- 
ured and named " square 
prisms," and the half-cubes 
in the same manner. The 
iLLusTKATioN No. 208. ]ayers would naturally follow, 

each child having two laid on the table, one back of the other, at least three 
inches apart, the layer with half-cubes in front, to inculcate an orderly way of 

handling. These layers are divided into 
one-third and tAvo-thirds and then the 
number of bricks, 
square prisms and 
half-cubes, is found. 
Practice in build- 
ing from two layers 
alone is given, and 
the structures are 
measured. The in- 
ventions and com- 
parisons are almost 
endless. 

"All Froebel's 
gifts are remarkable for the peculiar feature that they can be rendered exceed- 
ingly instructive by frequently introducing repetitions under varied conditions 






Illustration No. 209. 



Illustration No. 210. 



* From Wiebe's Paradise of Childliood. 



80 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



and forms, by which means we are sure to avoid that-dry and fatiguing monot- 
ony which must needs result from repeating the same thing in the same manner 
and form. And still more, the child, thereby, becomes accustomed to recognize 





Illustratiojst Xo. 211. 



Illustration No. 212. 



like in unlike, similarity in dissimilarity, oneness -in multiplicity, and connection 
in the apparently disconnected." 

With the sixth gift we reach the end of the second series of develop- 
ment given by Froebel in the building 
blocks, the aim of this second series being to 
acquaint the child with the general qualities 
of the solid body by his own observation and 
occupation with the same. 





Illustration No. 213. 



Illustration No. 214. 



Sequence. — I. — Lay out the gift in layers, whole bricks with half-cubes 
for front layers, as in illustration No. 196. 

II. — Notice the two layers at the right. From the front one take two 



THE SIXTH GIFT. 



81 



bricks. Join them by their broad faces and place them on the table run- 
ning front and back. From the back layer take two more bricks. Join the 
same as before and place in the same direction one inch to the right of the 
other two. Take two half-cubes from the front. F^et them rest on their 
square faces on top of the center of the bricks right and left. On each of 
these place a column, long face front, exactly in the center. On top of each 
on its square face place a half-cube. Join two bricks by their ends and lay 
them across the top, right and left. This is a small gateway. (Illustration 
No. 2IO.) The laying out of the gift and the building of this one form may 
constitute a lesson. The gift is divided among three children. 

III. — When the children are able, let each child have a whole gift. Build 

GRASSHOPPER GREEN. 



P^^^^^^^^^^^-^^ 



^ 



1. Grasshop-pcr Green is ' »' com-t. ntl cliap, He lives on the best uf fare; 



e^ 



% 



mm 



f= 



t=r^-F^ 






Bright lit - tie jack - et and trous-ers and cap. These are his sum-mer wear. 






"m 



\ •^ — 'I 



^^^ipi^^^gir^i^^^p 



Out in the mead-ow he loves to go, Play-i'ng a way in the sun, 







i!«: — 



hop -per- ty, skip - per - ty, high and low, Sum-mer'S' the time. fo» (un! 



=»= 



-^-J=J-=f--J= 



^^m. 



p- 



s^- 






8. Grasshopper Green has a dozen wee boys; 

And soon as their legs grow strong, 
Each of them joins ir^his frolicsome joys, 

Singing his merry song. 
Under the hedge in a happy row. 

Soon as the day is begun, 
It's hopperty, skipperty, high and low. 

Summer's the time for fun ! 



8. Grasshopper Green has a quaint little house, - 
It's under the hedge so gay. 
Grandmother Spider, as still as a mouse, 

Watches him over the way. 
Gladly he's calling tbe'children, I know. 

Out in the beautiful sun; 
It's hopperty, skipperty, high and low. 
Summer's the time for fun I 



three forms like the last illustration. Join them side and side, so the bricks on 
top just touch, which shows the front of a building. (Illustration No. 211.) 

IV. — Notice the two parts which form the center of this building front. 



82 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

Keep the right-hand part of this center in mind ami place the extreme right- 
hand part of the whole front ba'ck of it, so that the base bricks of both touch 
by their ends. Do the same at the left. Repeat at the right and left. This 
gives a bridge, (fllustration No. 212.) 

V. — Put the right-hand part of the front away at the right. Put the left 
away at the left. Do the same at the back. Turn the middle parts around un- 
til the bases run right and left and stand one inch apart. Place one of the 
right-hand parts directly in front of the middle parts, base bricks front and 
back, closing the opening at the base. The top brick will then run right and 
left and close the opening at the top. Place the other right-hand part in a sim- 
ilar position at the back of the structure. The center of the base is a one-inch 
hollow square, and at the top it is a two-inch square. There are now two 
parts left on the table. Take off the top bricks, all half-bricks and the columns. 
Roof the structure with four bricks resting on their broad faces. Lay a 
half-cube on its square face in the center of each half of the top. Stand a 
column on each of these, long face front, with a half-cube for a cap-stone. 
Two bricks are left. Join them by the ends and lay them right and left 
across the top. This represents a spring-house. (Illustration No. 213.) 

VI. — These steps may all be retraced to the layers, or the gift may be built 
up direct from the spring-house. 

It is always more interesting to the children when some story is connected 
with the sequence. The forms above given may illustrate a Summer day in a 
city park. For free play the children may be encouraged to invent other build- 
ings or grottoes in the park. (Illustration No. 214.) Bird and flower songs 
would be appropriate, or the song, " Grasshopper Green," * the subject of 
which might be found in some secluded spot. (See page 81.) 

For further reading on the sixth gift see : Paradise of Childhood^ by Edward 
Wiebe, and Songs and Games for Little Ones^ by Misses Walker and Jenks. 



EIGHTH PAPER* 

THE SEVENTH GIFT. 

In the seventh gift we study the first of the third and last set of Froebel's 
gifts. This set comprises the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth gifts and is called 

the abstract set. The first set contains 

\ undivided solids ; the second set divided 

(^^\ I I y-K A \ ^^^ solids ; while now, commencing with the 

^-^ ' ' ^ — ^ ^ — -^ — -^ ^ ^ seventh gift, we proceed to analyze the 

Illustration No. 215. , , . c \- a t? 4-u v a ^.-i. 

boundaries of solids. From the solid the 

first step toward the abstract is the plane. From the plane Froebel passes to the 

line, and thence to the point. 



* Songs and Games for Little Ones, by Gertrude Walker and Harriet Jenks, published by The Oliver 
Ditson Company. 



THE SEVENTH GIFT. 



88 



The seventh gift consists of thin polished planes, representing surfaces, made 
in the natural colors of light and dark woods. There are six forms : The cir- 
cle, square, right-angled isosceles triangle, equilateral triangle, right-angled 



scalene triangle and the 
obtuse-angled triangle. 
(Illustration No 215.) 
These planes are called 
tablets. We advance 
now from the solid build- 
ing gifts to the gift which 
deals only with surfaces. 



216 



axx) 

217 



00 



218 



CD rc) 



Kj 






220 




& 



221 



o 



o 



222 



219 

This gift combines elements into 
forms and thus begins with synthesis, while the building 
gifts began with analysis. The objects shown with the 
building gifts were real, concrete representations of build- 
ings and had the three dimensions of length, breadth and 
thickness ; but with the tablets of the seventh gift, the 
children cannot represent real objects, only pictures of 
them. To render the tablets tangible, they are given three ^-^ 

dimensions, but we really deal with only two dimensions — \ ) 

length and breadth — for the third dimension is so small as 
to be left out of consideration. 

The seventh gift is obtained by analyzing solids. As the 
Kindergarten solids may be reduced to the sphere, cube 
and cylinder, and these, in turn, to the sphere alone, the cube and cylinder 
being contained in the sphere, the seventh gift may be derived from the 
sphere. Bisecting the sphere in any way produces the circular plane. Within 

the circle the square may be drawn. 
The right-angled isosceles triangle fol- 
lows from the square when divided from 
corner to corner. The equilateral triangle 
may be obtained from the hexagon drawn 
in the circle and divided into six triangles. 
Bisecting the equilateral triangle from 
apex to base gives the right-angled 
scalene triangle, or if the hexagon be 
drawn in the square face of the cube, 
the triangles left in the corners will be 
right-angled scalene triangles. Two 
right-angled scalene triangles joined by bases will give the obtuse-angled 
triangle, or by bisecting the equilateral triangle in each direction, the sides with 
the lines meeting at the center form three obtuse-angled triangles. This is 
easily demonstrated with a circle of paper. 

The seventh gift can be used to represent forms of life, but the results are 
crude and not so pleasing as those made with the building gifts. In artistic 




223 



224 



225 



226 





228 




84 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 




233 



234 



235 



and mathematical possibilities, however, the seventh"~gift excels, the forms of 
beauty and geometrical forms being more extensive with this gift than with any 
of the others which come before it. The two colors combine to enhance the 
effect. Latent talent and originality in designing are soon disclosed by the use 
of the seventh gift, while many lessons are learned in form, angles and the direc- 
tion of lines. The law of working by opposites is applied in the laying out of 

designs, as in the forms of beauty with the 
building gifts. This makes mathematical 
relations clearer and helps to awaken the 
fancy. 

The Circle. — The first plane to be 
presented is the circle. (Illustration 
No. 2i6.) As it is derived from either 
ball or cylinder, it would naturally be 
given in connection with those solids. 
A clay cylinder may be made and thin 
slices cut from the ends to show that the 
tablet is really from it. The same result 
is attained when the sphere is bisected. 

Lessons in direction and position 
may be given, the first arrangement being 
a row from right to left, either touching 
or apart. (Illustrations Nos. 217 and 
218.) Other lessons would follow, con- 
sisting of groups of two or three tablets 
(Illustrations Nos. 219, 220 and 221), and 
from these symmetrical patterns may be 
laid either in central or border designs. 
(Illustration No. 222.) Many a childish 
game can be emphasized with circles, as 
they become in turn pictures of the plates 
for a tea-party, flower-beds on the lawn, 
closed seed-pods, or even the first snow- 
balls of Winter. The circular tablet gives 
the simplest and easiest lesson in position 
and direction, and through his play the 
child is led to observe circular forms in the world about him. 

The Square. — The next plane to be considered is the one-inch square. 
(Illustration No. 223.) This is the type of four-sided figures. With the square 
tablet the pupil becomes acquainted with the right angle and is taught to look 
for it in objects about him. He measures his tablet and finds that its sides are 
all alike, one inch long, and that its angles are all right angles. The square 
should be introduced in connection with a cube of the third gift, that the child 
may see that it is derived from it, that it represents its surface. The cube may be 



236 



237 



238 



239 






240 















241 









THE SEVENTH GIFT. 



85 



called a table and the tablet a spread for it. It is named a square, and its edges 
are equal in whatever position placed. By experimenting it is shown that the 
corner of a small square covers the corner of a large square. Direction, front 
and back, right and left, up and down, has already been learned. It will not 
now be difficult to show that when a line running straight up and down meets 
one running right and left, the corner thus formed is a right angle. Fourteen 
tablets laid one above the other equal a one-inch cube. The same idea is 
illustrated by covering a cube with tablets. 

By way of contrast two tablets may be joined into an oblong. This is 
measured as to sides and angles. It is not a square, because the sides are not 
equal, but the angles fulfil the conditions of right angles. The eye is thus 
trained to judge correctly of the right angle, which correctness is an important 
foundation for skilled workmanship in after life. A beginning is made in the 
Kindergarten for industrial work which, if carried into the school, will lead out 
into the arts and manufactures. As already mentioned in the paper on occupa- 
tions, it is this same early training that has given the older countries their 
precedence in the industrial world. 

From the opposite sides of the square the child gets the idea of parallel 
lines. Parallel lines joined to the right angle form the elements of architecture. 
The child is unconsciously pleased by this connection with the real things of life 
and begins to grasp the underlying unity. 

With two tablets position is again introduced. They may join by edges 
(Illustrations Nos. 224 and 225), and run right and left or front and back ; or, 
joined by corners, run the same way. (Illustrations Nos. 226 and 227.) Corner 
may touch middle of edge in front (Illustration No. 228), at back (Illustration No. 
229) right or left, (Illustrations Nos. 230 and 231). The same designs may be 
repeated with three squares or they may alternate. (Illustration No. 232.) 

Four tablets form a square similar to the top of the third gift. (Illustration 
No, 2;^^.) Larger squares follow with more tablets. Oblongs of different lengths 
and widths would constitute another step, (illustrations Nos. 234 and 235.) 
After these may come more difficult designs (Illustration No. 236), or a sequence, 
as in the forms of beauty with the third gift. A life sequence may be given 
with the third gift and afterward copied with the squares as follows : 





Car. 


Wall. 


Seats. 


Sofa. 


Ulustra- ) 
tion > 
Nos. ) 


237 


288 


239 


240 



Madame Kraus represents a flag (illustration No 241) I3y making an 
oblong of six square tablets, arranged from right to left, two by three inches, 
placing the two remaining squares below up and down, on the right or left 
hand side, to form the flag-staff, locating the staff according to the direction 
from which the child supposes the wind to blow. This suggests the song of 



86 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



the " hand and wrist game of the weather-vane," fr(5m Froebel's Mutter und 
Koselieder : 




242 



246 



24:3 



244 



245 




247 



248 




249 



Like the weather-vane I'm going, 
While the gusts of wind are blowing ; 
I can turn my wrist and hand, 
As the best vane in our land. 

The forms of life, however^ are limited in comparison with the forms of 
beauty. Work with the squares lays an excellent preparation for weaving. In 

this first work with the seventh gift 
the Kindergartner must proceed care- 
fully and in accordance with the devel- 
opment of the child, explaining and re- 
peating the same idea under as many 
different circumstances as possible. 
The object is to acquaint the child 
with the created world in which he 
lives and make him in turn a creative 
being. Dr. Kallmann says that instead 
of giving the child a threefold nature — 
head, hand, heart — he would make the 
classification five-fold, viz. , hand, head, 
heart, heart, hand — first the hand, to grasp and gain sense impressions, the 
head to know, the heart to feel ; again, the heart for right-willing, and last, 
the hand a second time to execute. 

Right-angled Isosceles Triangle. — The third plane is the right-angled 
isoscles triangle, called half-square for convenience, made by bisecting the square 
diagonally. (Illustration No. 242.) By this division a triangle is obtained 
with two edges, each one inch and one edge one and three-eighths inches long. 
One angle is a right angle, 90°, and each of the other angles measures 45°. 
The three angles of any triangle always equal two right angles. These two 
angles, 90° and 45°, are the first used by the draughtsman and designer. 

As the square tablet is connected with the cube of the third gift, so the 
right-angled isosceles triangle follows after the half-cube of the fifth gift and 
should not be given until that gift is used. By introducing it after the fifth gift, 
the triangular face of the half-cube is emphasized. (Illustration No. 243.) Two 
tablets are joined to make a square. One is drawn away and the new form is 
thus disclosed. A half-cube is placed over it, showing that the tablet is like the 
cube's triagular face. When two triangles form a square it is found that a 
slanting line divides them. This line is called a diagonal and it is longer than 
the sides of the square. The square had four sides and four angles, but this new 
figure has but three sides and three angles. Figures of three sides and three 
angles are called triangles. The half square has one right angle and two sharp 
angles. The sharp angles are called acute angles. Two of them will make a 



THE SEVENTH GIFT. 



8T 





252 



253 



254 




251 



256 



right angle. What is opposite the right angle ? The line called the base of the 
triangle. This line has been shown to be longer than the sides and the right angle 
to be larger than either of the two others. We may then give the fact that the 
longest side is opposite the widest angle. After forming the square from two 
tablets (illustration No. 244) a large triangle is obtained by joining right angles 
at center of base, the long sides extending out right and left. (Illustration No. 
245.) How long is the 
base, or longest edge, of 
this new triangle, and 
what is the angle at the 
top or apex ? This tri- 
angle is a larger half 
square, for tw^o more 
added to it would form 
a square. More half 
squares may be given out 
to make into larger tri- 
angles and, all being 
joined by acute angles, 
placed with the right an- 
gle at the back and the ^^^ 
longest line running right and left in front, a neat border pattern will be made. 

Two half squares will form a rhomboid having two acute and two obtuse 
angles. (Illustration No. 246.) Exercises may be given in placing the half 
square according to dictation, as in the one mentioned above with the triangles 
made of two half squares (illustration No. 247), or in making two rows, the row 
in front touching by acute angles, long lines in front running right and left, 
the second row back of the front row, the right angles of both touching and 
the long lines at the back extending right and left. (Illustration No. 248.) 

Another pattern has the same row in front, the back row being moved so 
as to have the right angle merely touch the right angle made by the opening 
between the front angles. (Illustration No. 249.) For more difficult work join 
four black half squares together to form a square, having a corner front. Add 
white half squares around this, touching by their long edges and with their right 
angles out. Thus you have a white square enclosing a black one. (Illustration 
No. 250.) Adding more tablets enlarges and elaborates the design. (Illustra- 
tion No. 251.) Join eight half squares into a hollow octagon. (Illustration No. 
252.) Three half squares make either a- shoe or boat trapezoid, (Illustrations 
Nos. 253 and 254.) Four wnll make a boat trapezoid, a square, an oblong and a 
large triangle. Five form a shoe, a boat trapezoid or an irregular pentagon. 

The forms of both life and beauty follow those of the fifth gift. (Illustra- 
tions Nos. 255 and 256.) These are merely the simplest combinations, as an 
attempt to exhaust the forms derivable from the half square would require a 
book in itself. Dictated work shows the child the possibilities of his material 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



and gives him a foundation for future invention and free-play. The two should 
be judiciously mingled. " Nothing comes of nothing," and the child cannot 
invent until he has first learned to observe. 

Equilateral Triangle. — The equilateral triangle (illustration No. 257) 
follows the right-angled isosceles or half square. It is the simplest of all tri- 
angles, because all its edges are equal and all its angles are equal. Each edge 
is one inch long and each angle is of 60°. It stands as the type of three- 
sided figures. Previous to this tablet the right angle has been more prominent 
than the acute angle, but with the equilateral triangle the acute angle stands 
alone. If compared with the former tablet, the right-angled isosceles, we find 
that both have three edges and three angles. The right-angled isosceles tri- 
angle has two edges of one inch each ; the equilateral has all three of one inch. 
The equilateral triangle has no right angle, but three acute angles. The right- 
angled isosceles triangle has two acute angles, but they are sharper than those 
of the equilateral. If the equilateral triangle is laid upon the right-angled 
isosceles triangle, these facts will be demonstrated. Either angle of the 
•equilateral triangle may be the apex and either side the base. The triangle is 
deeper from apex to base than the isosceles. Its name is derived from its 
equal sides and its equal angles are the result of its equal edges. With two tri- 
angles we can neither make a square, a triangle or form a right angle. The only 
figure produced is the rhombus. (Illustration No. 258.) This is a new figure, 
for while the rhomboid has opposite sides equal and parallel and opposite angles 

equal, the rhombus has also all its sides 

^ y^ — y /\/\ /ra\ equal. The rhomboid has two acute 

/ \ / v \/\/ \^^ angles of 45°, two obtuse angles (this 

name is not to be given the children yet) 
of 135°. The rhombus, however, has two 
acute angles of 60°, and two obtuse angles 
of 120°, twice the size of the first. A 
number of rhombi may be made and laid 
together to show a border pattern. Six 
equilateral triangles united to form a solid 
center give the hexagon. (Illustration 
No. 259.) The rhombus and the hexagon 
are the two most important figures to be 
obtained from the equilateral triangle. 
Count the edges of the hexagon and 
observe which sides are parallel. The an- 
gles are twice the angles of the equilateral of which the figure is made, or 
120°. It combines three rhombi. Lay the hexagon on paper and draw a circle 
around it, and also develop it from a circular folding paper, by dividing the 
paper into halves and then into thirds and folding lines to connect the radii. 
Placing one equilateral triangle over another to represent a six-pointed star and 
drawing a line around it touching the points illustrates the circle in another 



257 



258 



259 



260 




266 



THE SEVENTH GIFT. 



89 



way. (Illustration No. 260.) Three equilateral triangles construct a boat 
trapezoid ; four, a rhomboid or a two-inch equilateral triangle ; twelve, a six- 
pointed star (illustration No. 261) ; three, a clover design. (Illustration No. 262.) 

The forms of life are fewer than with the right-angled isosceles triangle 
and the forms of beauty are usually three or six sided figures. (Illustration 
No. 263.) 

Right-angled Scalene Triangle. — The right-angled scalene triangle 
(illustration No. 264) is obtained by dividing the equilateral triangle from apex 
to base. The size in common use for the Kindergarten has one edge one inch 
long, another one and three-fourths inch, or, as we tell the child, " not quite 
two inches," and the third, or hypothenuse, two inches long. It has one right 
and two acute angles. The first acute angle is 60°, and the second one-half of 
60°, or 30°. The right-angled scalene triangle is another tablet used by the 
draughtsman in connection with the right-angled isosceles triangle and the T 
square. These two triangles contain the standard angles, viz. : 90^,60°, 45° 
and 30°, The child in the Kindergarten becomes familiar with these angles 
through play and lays the foundation for the geometrical work of the school. 
Froebel believed that much valuable time was lost by the old methods of teach- 
ing, and advocated giving the child the beginnings of all things in his play. 

When the right-angled scalene triangle is introduced, call attention first 
to the angles. They 
should be recognized 
as one right and two 
acute angles. One of 
the acute angles is 
twice the size of the 
other. To prove this, 
join two tablets by their 
acute angles of 30° and 
place this acute angle 
formed of two of 30° 
over the angle of 60° 
of a third tablet. They 
will exactly coincide. 

(Illustration No. 265.) Make an equilateral triangle of right-angled scalene 
triangles. If two more are made and joined by their bases, the rhomb is formed. 
(Illustration No. 266.) The obtuse-angled triangle appears when two tablets 
are joined by their angles of 6o^ (Illustration No. 267.) Joining the longest 
sides of two tablets so that an angle of 60= and one of 30° come together gives 
an oblong (illustration No. 268), but if the longest sides are put together with two 
angles of 60° touching and two of 30 ^ the kite trapezium appears. (Illustra- 
tion No. 269.) Thus two tablets will show an equilateral triangle, an obtuse- 
angled triangle, two rhomboids, a kite trapezium and an oblong. Three form 
a shoe trapezoid in three ways, an irregular pentagon, and a large right-angled 




90 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

scalene triangle. Four give an irregular pentagon, a Thombus, two rhomboids 
and an oblong. Five will afford a shoe trapezoid in two ways, an irregular hexa- 
gon and irregular pentagon. (Illustration No. 270). Twelve tablets or six trape- 
ziums form a hexagon. As the sides and angles of the right-angled scalene 
triangle are all unlike, it allows of greater variety and ingenuity in arrange- 
ment than any of the other tablets, while the forms of knowledge demonstrate 
the important fact that though shape may differ comparative size is the same. 

The right-angled scalene triangle may be used to some extent in making 
forms of life, and some of the forms of knowledge may be used as such. (Illus- 
tration No. 271.) The forms of beauty are many and varied. (Illustration 
No. 272.) 

Obtuse-angled Triangle. — The last plane of the seventh gift is the 
obtuse-angled triangle. (Illustration No. 273.) This may be formed by join- 
ing two right-angled scalene triangles by their short edges, right angles touch- 
ing and also those of 60°. The angle at the apex is 120° and those at the base 
are 30° each. Two edges are each one inch long and the base line is one inch and 
three-fourths long. One angle is obtuse, two are acute. The obtuse-angle is 
■four times the width of the acute angles. The two acute angles together equal 
one angle of the equilateral triangle and the obtuse angle is twice one angle of 
the equilateral. If three obtuse-angled triangles are joined with their obtuse 
angles in the center, they make an equilateral triangle. Two obtuse-angled 
triangles joined by bases give a rhombus equal and similar to the rhombus 
made from the equilateral triangle. But if two tablets are joined by equal 
edges, acute angle meeting obtuse angle, the rhomboid appears. How does 
this differ from the rhombus? The older children will note the distinction 
after having repeatedly made the forms and learned the names. Experiment 
to find how many acute angles will form the right angle and how much larger 
the obtuse angle is than the right angle. Combine two tablets to make an 
arrow-head and give it the name trapezium. Place a nuUiber of these in a 
row on the table, with their points in front and their acute angles touching. 
Lay another row of single tablets back of the first, with their base lines in front. 
This forms a pleasing border design. (Illustration No. 274.) Twelve tablets 
may be arranged to approximate a circle. To do this, lay short edge to base, 
as shown in illustration No. 275. From these twelve tablets make six 
rhombs and combine these into a six-rayed star. 

With each of the tablets it has only been possible to show the fundamental 
combinations. After these have been mastered, especially the forms of knowl- 
edge, almost innumerable designs may be constructed. But as all the after 
work is based upon the way two or three tablets may be combined, the various 
arrangements should be first practiced. The forms of beauty^ as shown in 
illustration No. 276, lead out from the forms of knowledge. 

A sequence may be derived from almost any form of beauty by simply fol- 
lowing the rule, mentioned before, of working by opposites. A change at the 
right demands a similar one at the left. A child accustomed to follow this rule 
will readily finish a pattern of which one-half is given. 



THE EIGHTH, NINTH AND TENTH GIFTS. 91 

After each tablet with its combinations has been considered, several or all 
of the six forms should be used to construct one design. For instance, com- 
bine squares and half-squares ; squares, half-squares and equilaterals ; squares, 
half-squares, rhomboids and scalene triangles and obtuse-angled triangles. 
The imagination thus becomes stimulated and the outcome in design from these 
simple materials is almost as varied as the results obtained from stone, brick 
and mortar. 

In some few Kindergarten books it will be found that the tablets differ in 
dimensions from those here given, but we have chosen the sizes most generally 
accepted in America. The right-angled scalene triangle here used is one-half 
the equilateral, thus bringing the angles of all the tablets into symmetry and 
making them the draughtsman's standard, /. ^., 90°, 60°, 45° and 30°. The 
right-angled scalene triangle sometimes used in Germany is one-half an oblong, 
with a length twice its w^dth. This makes its angles fractional and destroys 
the relationship of the tablets. Another improvement is the adoption of 
neutral colors for the tablets. In this way the figures are laid in light and 
shade. Then^ that the forms may be made permanent, papers, called parquetry 
papers, are manufactured in the standard colors. When desirable work has 
been done with the tablets, the design is pasted with these papers upon ruled 
mounting sheets. Care is taken to give harmonizing colors, thus educating the 
taste in that direction. The lines on the mounting sheets afford the same 
guide in the parquetry pasting that the lines on the tables do for laying tablets. 
The child is pleased with the tangible result and a permanent application of 
principles is secured. 

" All this work tends to increase the power of production, to give exercise in 
plastic formation and comparison, to so fix the attention on an object that it shall 
be quickly perceived in its totality as well as in its parts, to train the eye to 
note relations of size and proportion, to quicken the sense for symmetry and 
beauty, to give mathematical ideas in preparation for arithmetic and to train 
the hand. The constant seeking for opposites and their connection leads to 
clear understanding, and by the orderly succession of things throughout, the 
foundation for logic is laid, and that by seeing and doing rather than by the 
abstract formulae which the school usually inflicts upon the child." 



NINTH PAPER. 
THE EIGHTH, NINTH AND TENTH GIFTS. 

The eighth Kindergarten gift consists of wire rings and half and quarter 
rings, in three different sizes. (Illustration No. 277.) Froebel chose steel for 
this gift, as being more practical and keeping its form better than wood. This 
gift belongs to the third set, because, while it is in itself a whole thing, and is, 
therefore, concrete, it is used to represent an outline of a surface, and is in that 



92 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



sense abstract. The large rings are usually two inches in diameter, the small 
ones one inch, and the medium-sized between the two. The seventh gift repre- 
sented surfaces — the circle and square and the triangular forms derived from 
them — while the eighth gift shows the boundaries of surfaces. The sphere was 
the first solid given to the child, and the circle the first surface ; therefore, the 
first boundary must be the curved line or ring. It is suggested by passing the 
finger around either the ball or the curved surface of the cylinder. In no case 
should the rings be called circles, for a circle is a surface, as, for instance, the 
flat face of the cylinder, while the rings are only the boundaries of circles. 




282 



283 



284 



While the eighth gift belongs to the abstract, we do not wait till the child has 
finished with the building set, but commence giving him the ring, it being a 
familiar form, even with the first gift. That is, we make each week a whole, and 
give lessons that follow Froebel's law of progress from the concrete to the 
abstract. 

Begin the lesson on this gift by showing a piece of iron ore, some nails, a 
knife blade or scissors, a magnet, a small garden-rake, wire and other common 
objects made of iron. Tell the children that all these things are made of iron, 
and that iron is dug out of the ground where the Heavenly Father placed it 



THE EIGHTH, NINTH AND TENTH GIFTS. 



y^i 



for our use. The place where iron is found in large quantities is called a mine, 
and the man who goes down into the ground and digs it out is a miner. Iron 
ore is the name for the pieces as they are dug from the ground. Describe the 
way the iron-ore is put uito furnaces and melted, telling how the other sub- 






287 



285 






4^ 

289 290 291 

stances mixed with it are taken away when it is very hot, so as to leave it pure. 
Then give the moulding process and the name pig-iron for the bars of iron when 
ready to be made up into useful articles. Certain ways of working the iron and 
of blowing air into the red-hot liquid change it into what is called steel, which 




294 



292 



293 








) 



295 '296 

is especially valuable for all cutting utensils, because it can be given a hard, 
sharp edge. Mention the qualities of iron, as, hard, dark, cold, heavy, ringing, 
malleable and ductile. This should include rust and the care of iron, its use as 
a medicine, etc. A description of mines, with the shaft, carts and railways, gal- 
leries, miner's lamp, dangers of the miner's life, how the mules are taken up 
and down, the fact that some of the mules never see the light, respect for the 



m 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



miner, and, above all, the Divine love and wisdom of the Heavenly Father in 
giving so much iron for our use, may all be touched upon. Make a list of the 
things made of iron and steel ; collect pictures of these articles and of mines and 
miners for a scrap book. Other gifts and occupations may be brought in to 
make the miner's cottage, the wagon for the iron ore or the railway track down 
into the mine, and thus the children will really enter into the life and work of 
the miner, the uses of iron, and learn lessons never to be forgotten. The more 
the Kindergartner or mother knows of all the processes involved, the more vivid 
her representation will be and consequently the more interest the children will 
manifest. 







297 

■ 


1 





298 299 

In many similar ways the Kindergarten cultivates the child's feelings along 
with his intellect. The schools have trained the intellect to the exclusion of the 
heart, which neglect shows in the social 
troubles of the day, the universal , brother- 
hood of man not being recognized. 
Froebel believed that man must be 
trained to live in 
unity with God, 
with Nature and 
with his fellow- 
man. His system 
begins with the 
young child and 
seeks to develop 
him simultaneously on all the planes of his being, physical, mental and moral. 

Present the largest ring first, and call attention to round objects. Con- 
sider some of the properties of the ring itself — that it is round, bright, smooth, 
hard. Place it on the table so that a crossing-place is in the middle of it. 
Then give an exercise in placing several in a row. (Illustration No. 278.) 
Remove all but one ring in an orderly way, and let the children spin this and 
find the " silver ball." Clothe the work with a story to render it more pleasing, 
and let both the distribution and the gathering up be orderly. Sufficient time 
should be allowed for this part of the lesson, to avoid hurry and confusion. 

Then symmetrical patterns may be developed, using different sizes together 





300 



301 



502 



THE EIGHTH, NINTH AND TENTH GIFTS. 



95 



to emphasize front and back, right and left. (Illustrations Nos. 279 and 280.) 
Circular parallel lines would constitute a lesson, also designs bringing out the 
"slanting opposite." (Illustrations Nos. 281 and 282.) Sequences, involving 
both the whole and half rings, may be evolved from a single design. (Illustra- 
tions Nos. 283 and 284.) Call attention to border patterns in wall decorations. 
Place three of the largest rings in a horizontal line, toucning. Place a similar 
row of the next size in front of the first row and touching, and again the smallest 
ones in front. (Illustration No. 285.) Or, they may be placed within each 




other, all having the same center. By varying this in several ways a sequence 
can be shown, or, again, the children might be asked to suggest other changes. 
Arrange a group of three. (Illustration No. 286.) Several groups placed 
short distances apart give a pretty border pattern which might afterwards have 
various embellishments. Half rings are arranged to form a center ; this is 
afterwards added to, or each child is given the same quantity of material, after 
the center is made, and asked to lay a design at pleasure. (Illustration Nos. 
287 and 288.) Forms of life, especially in flower designs, are developed with the 
quarter rings (illustration No. 289), while illustrations Nos. 290 and 291 show a 
sequence in half rings. Forms of life in the eighth gift are necessarily limited, 
and the forms of knowledge are mostly contained in the forms of beauty. As 
the curved line is the line of beauty, all the forms — even the simplest combina- 
tions of a small number of rings or half rings — are forms of beauty and appeal 
to the child's ideas of the beautiful to a greater degree than anything made 



96 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



from the other gifts. Looking at the beautiful in eithe^art or nature cultivates 
an appreciation of the good, the true, the sublime ; it also fills the mind with 
right thoughts and leads through material things to the spiritual. Give the 
child positive education and the negative will take care of itself. A great 
preacher says : " To fill the mind with beautiful images is the best mode of cul- 
ture for the very young. Make sure of the imagination and you secure the 
character." Order, cleanliness and harmony are the prerequisites of beauty. 
The Ninth Gift. — Wooden sticks in five lengths — one, two, three, four and 
five inches long — and in the form of square prisms compose the ninth gift. 
(Illustration No. 292.) They might be of any length and very thin, but are, 
in fact, made about the thickness of a match to prevent breaking and to be the 




304 

more easily retained in position. They may be obtained in the natural wood 
colors or in the six colors of the spectrum. The colored sticks are especially 
pleasing to the children and may be used where color is a point to emphasize, 
or to represent certain familiar objects, as growing grass or the national flag. 

This gift, with the seventh and eighth, belongs to the third or abstract set. 
It is used to teach the line, and lines teach both direction and enclosure of space. 
In the stick we have the beginning of outline drawing, including perspective. 
It embodies the edges of the cube, the limitations of surface. 

The first line to be taught is the vertical. This is a most important line. 
We use terms derived from the vertical line to represent moral qualities, for in- 
stance " uprightness," and " erectness," suggesting manliness. The vertical 
line also has its use in art, for when the artist paints a picture he groups all 
his figures about a vertical line. When teaching the child the vertical line, tell 
him that it is derived by dropping a line from the highest point in the sky, 
called the zenith, to the earth. 



THE EIGHTH, NINTH AND TENTH GIFTS. 



97 



The next line taught is the horizontal, of which the horizon is the perfection. 
Connecting the vertical and horizontal lines, we have the slanting line. The 
ninth gift is used indirectly to teach number, with the elements of addition, 
subtraction, multiplication and division. 

In giving the lessons commence with a two-inch stick. This corresponds to 
the edge of the second gift cube. Carry the child back to the tree from which 
the stick came. Gradually, as would be natural, bring out the different kinds of 
trees he knows and the uses of wood, then the benefits the trees confer in the 
Vi^ay of shade, fruit, the gathering of moisture and as affording places for 
birds to build their nests. Tell about Arbor Day and why it was instituted, thus 
instilling a love for trees and a desire to take proper care of them. Plant a 



^Cy 




305 



306 



307 



308 

maple seed or an acorn and let the children see it germinate. Teach them how 
the shoot grows and finally becomes a tree, registering its age by each year add- 
ing a ring to its circumference. Give an account of the process necessary to 
prepare the stick for use, mentioning more or less of the particulars, according to 
the age and intelligence of the children. Call attention to articles made of wood, 



• • • • 



309 
making a list of them. Follow this by exercises in placing a stick, front and 
back, right and left, and slantwise. To keep in the play spirit and cultivate 
the imagination, arrange a short sequence in forms of life, using three sticks 
to make a doorway, an umbrella, a flag. (Illustration No. 293.) Parallel lines, 
right and left, and front and back, follow. (Illustrations Nos. 294 and 295.) 
After the lesson has been given with the sticks allow the child to draw what he 
has made, either on paper or blackboard. Sewing cards are also useful in this 
connection. Let the various simple forms be sewed, commencing with long 
vertical, horizontal and slanting lines, with the holes far apart. This occupa- 
tion will apply the lesson taught by the gift. 

The first geometrical figure to be outlined is the square, following the 
square tablet of the seventh gift and the face of the second gift cube. After 
'the fifth gift has been thus given and the triangle of the seventh gift, use the 



98 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



sticks to lay triangles, pentagons, hexagons, octagons, -oblongs, and squares of 
five different sizes, one within the other. This last would approximate the 
face of the cube. (Illustrations Nos. 296, 299 and 300.) 

Begin to talk about angles in connection with the use of the sticks. Place 
a piece of folding paper on the table and frame it with two inch sticks. Take 
up the paper and note that four square corners have thus been made. A square 






310 
corner is a right angle. Look about the room for right angles and, if necessary, 
test the angles by seeing if the corner of the paper will fit into them. Follow 
the right angle by angles larger and smaller than it is. (Illustration No. 297.) 
Border patterns are pleasing. One may be given-alone and afterwards changed, 
or added to according to fancy to constitute a sequence. Enhance the interest 
by the use of a story with this lesson. (Illustration No. 298.) 

The ninth gift may be used to show an endless variety in forms of life and 

to some extent in the forms of beauty. These last are more or less geometric 

patterns, which also contain the forms of knowledge. Illustrations Nos. 301, 

302 and 303 show a shovel, a boat and a house, simple examples of forms of life. 

Illustration No. 304 is a sequence derived from the square. This would 

come under the head of forms of 
beauty. Forms of beauty made 

• • .^ with the third, fourth, fifth, sixth 
••^ and seventh gifts can also be 

,.••/. outlined with the sticks, omitting 
*•* * the perspective. 

Sticks and rings are often 
combined, especially in forms of 
life, and, being more concrete, 
are much liked by the youngest 

• children. The example here 
311 given is a bunch of cherries and 

a water pitcher, using both sticks and rings. (Illustrations Nos. 305 and 306.) 

The Tenth Gift. — Any small seed that may be easily handled singly and 
that will remain in place will do for the tenth gift. (Illustration No. 307). 
Most Kindergartners select lentils, which belong to the bean family, as being well 
adapted to the purpose. As the point has neither length, breadth nor thickness 
we indicate it by a dot. Tell the child what the seed is. He will have a curi- 
osity to know and this curiosity should be satisfied. Then plant some of the 
seeds that he may see them grow. It is also well for the Kindergartner to 
make a collection of seeds. 



THE EIGHTH, NINTH AND TENTH GIFTS. 



99 



The tenth is the last Kindergarten gift, and, with the seventh, eighth and 
ninth, constitutes the third or abstract set. In the gifts we begin with soHds, 
undivided for the first two, divided for the next four, with the seventh intro- 
ducing surfaces, the boundaries of the soUd. Then the eighth and ninth gifts 
emphasized lines, the limits of surfaces, while in the tenth, points, the limita- 
tions of the line, are indicated. As a line is a succession of points, the tenth gift 
is used to represent the line. Anything that can be indicated with the line can 
be shown with points. The tenth gift may represent the line or the ends of the 
line, giving at the same time direction. (Illustration No. 308.) It may represent 
a surface, outline a surface, or indicate a surface. (Illustration No. 309.) By 
this means the forms or faces of the preceding gifts are emphasized with the 
particular character of each. The same plan is also carried out to indicate the 
planes of the seventh gift, (Illustration No. 310.) 



• • «• • • 



312 



313 



The particular use of the tenth gift, however, is to emphasize the point in 
itself and in its relation to lines, surfaces and solids. In the cube, for instance, 
it shows where three lines meet and is a corner. The seed should be introduced 
to represent the point in connection with sticks. Give each child a two-inch 
stick and also some seeds. Place the stick front and back, and let two seeds be 
placed in a similar position at one side to indicate the ends. Then add more 
seeds until a line is made of points. Afterwards make horizontal and slanting 
lines in the same way. Many of the lessons given with sticks can afterwards 
be rehearsed with seeds. A border pattern is shown in illustration No. 312 ; 
forms of life, like the rake and umbrella in illustration No. 311 ; leaves, flowers 
and animal forms are also represented, or a story may be carried out. (Illustra- 
tion No. 313.) Use the rings of the eighth gift for a border to the child's 
flower-garden. Put seeds in the rings to represent the planting of flower-seeds. 
This especially delights the child. (Illustration No. 314.) The seeds are also 
used in the mass to make pictures of streams, houses, animals or trees. (Illus- 
tration No. 315.) 

Summary. — Summing up the gifts, we find them classified as follows : 

First Set. — Nursery gifts, symbolic, containing undivided solids and teach- 
ing color and form. The first gift consists of six soft worsted balls in pris- 
matic colors. The second gift consists of the wooden ball, cube and cylinder. 

Second Set. — Building gifts, analytic and synthetic, containing divided 
solids. The third gift consists of a two-inch wooden cube divided into eight 
one-inch cubes. The fourth gift consists of a two-inch wooden cube divided 
into eight bricks, each 2 x i x ^ inches in size. The fifth gift is a three-inch 



100 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

wooden cube divided into twenty-seven one-inch cubes.-^Three of these are di- 
vided by a diagonal cut into half-cubes and three by two diagonal cuts into quar- 
ter-cubes. The sixth gift is a three-inch wooden cube divided into twenty-seven 
bricks of the same dimensions as the fourth gift. Three of these bricks are 
divided by a lengthwise cut into halves and three breadthwise into halves. 

Third Set. — The abstract set is synthetic, showing surfaces, boundaries of 
surfaces, limitations of boundaries. The seventh gift consists of thin pieces of 
wood in six forms, viz : circle, square, half-square, equilateral triangle, right- 
angled scalene triangle, obtuse-angled triangle, to represent surfaces, all being 
derived from the circle. The eighth gift consists of wire rings, half and quarter 
rings in three sizes, and shows the boundary of a ball. The ninth gift consists 
of sticks of different lengths to show lines, the boundaries of surfaces. The 
tenth gift consists of seeds for the point, element of lines, limitation of 
boundaries. 

The Four Apple Trees.* — Many years ago there was a man who wanted 
to have a beautiful orchard. So he sent for some young trees, knowing that he 





• ••• 






314 
should not have to wait so long for his orchard 
if he planted trees which had already had a 
good start in growing. Unfortunately, how- 
ever, the trees arrived just at the time when 
the man was obliged to leave home for several 
days. He was afraid the trees would not live 

unless they were planted very soon, and yet •:•?•:•?♦'' 

he could not stay to attend to them. Just 
then a man came along who wanted work. 

" Do you know how to set out fruit trees ? '' 
asked the owner. 315 

" Yes, indeed," said the other man. 

" Then you may stay and set out these young apple-trees. I am going to 
have an orchard, and I have marked the places for the trees with stones. " 

By-and-by the owner of the trees came back and went to look at his or- 
chard. He had been gone four days. 

" How is this ? " he asked, " only four trees set out ? " 

" That is all I had time for," answered the other man. " I dug great holes, 
so that the roots might be spread out to the farthest tip ; I hauled rich earth 
from the woods, so that the trees might have the best of food ; I set the trees 
straight and filled the holes with care. This took all the time, but these four 
trees are well planted." 

* From /n the Child\ World, by Emile Poulsson. 



THE OCCUPATIONS. 101 

" That is too slow a way for me," said the owner. " I can plant the whole 
orchard in one day." 

So he went to work and planted the other trees in his own way. He did 
not dig the holes large enough or deep enough, and, therefore, many of the little 
root mouths were broken off when he set the trees into the holes. He did not 
take pains to get soft, rich earth to fill the holes, and so the trees could not have 
as good food as they needed. The poor little trees lived for a while, but they 
were never very strong, never bore very good apples, and at last were cut down. 
Finally all that was left of the orchard was the four trees which had been planted 
with such faithfulness and care. These four trees are now older than an old 
man, and have been bearing delicious great apples. 



TENTH PAPER. 

THE OCCUPATIONS. 

The New Education is designed to produce spontaneous action and a crea- 
tive, inventive spirit by encouraging the child to embody in some form the ideas 
he gets from inanimate things. The " occupations " of the Kindergarten secure 
this result, because they apply the principles learned from the gifts and give 
permanence to their various transformations. 

Froebel chose the sphere, cube and cylinder as typifying the forms of 
Nature, When the gifts are presented in the Kindergarten, they are analyzed as 
to their properties, their activities, and their resemblance to the forms of the 
heavenly bodies, of minerals and of life. But we constantly find these forms or 
their parts combined in Nature, not only in the works of the Creator, but also 
in those of His creatures. Thus the ant lays out her opposite lines with mathe- 
matical precision, and forms a surface which is to her a " habitation and a 
home " ; the bird weaves her straw and threads into a spherical form to 
afford shelter for her young. Man, too, finds himself in a world of ever-varying 
wants, and he must study how to meet them. He is a " creative being," but he 
does not really create anything. He only combines what a loving Father, who 
created the world and "saw that it was good," has placed at his disposal. 
These combinations of man we call his occupations. 

The savage found it necessary to provide himself with food, clothing and 
protection from the weather, so he constructed rude mills for grinding grain, 
knives for destroying game and shaping garments of skin, and chisels, hammers, 
and other tools for building purposes ;. and the ingenuity of man has ever since 
been devoted to meeting these same needs. New possibilities open, he draws 
ever nearer to the beautiful, and so there comes an improved and extended 
mental condition. The spread of wants takes a direction other than the 
material. New duties arise, and new agencies are found to perform them. 
Thus we speak of our food processes, our applied science, the arts of war and of 
design, all to satisfy the needs of advancing civilization. 



102 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



So has the development of the human race gone Readily on. " Cursed is 
the ground for thy sake," and " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," 
says the old dispensation, to provide man a means of regeneration. Froebel, who 
had carefully watched childish instincts manifested through play, declared that 



/-A 





^ 


8 


\i 








^ 


u 


'^ 





v.. 


.y 




I' 



"-^ * 



"^ % 

"^ » 

c • 

f * 



Illustration No. 316. Illustration No. 317. Illustration No. 318. 

"the child develops as the race has done," and improvised the occupations of 
the Kindergarten (epitomized industries of the human race) as aids to the 
orderly development or true education of the child. 

In this work of development the hand plays an important part. The occu- 
pations or manual exercises of the Kindergarten train the hand, and with it the 
eye, and so the whole intelligent being. Dr. Murray, in his Handbook of Psychol- 
ogy^ says : " The hand shows the superiority of man over the lower animals, and 




f' 


^^ 


/ 


vCvr 




C^ c:§^.^ J __<^ 


^„ 


<^^ fl frj.v\ 





Illustration No. 319. Illustration No. 320. 

there seems to be a proportion between the development of general intelligence 
and the development of touch in the animal kingdom." 

For the best results the hand must be trained while the muscles are flexible 
and before the fingers have become set and stiff. There will be no limit to 
manual dexterity if training is commenced early and carried on gradually and 
systematically. As we grow older, things that could easily have been learned in 
childhood are acquired more slowly and only with the greatest pains. Besides, 
the child is not generally conscious of himself ; he wants to do new things and 
strives to imitate what he sees going on around him. This is the striving of his 
creative power. 

Early training is a great help toward skilled labor. European nations have 
long since recognized this fact, and have established technical schools to train 
the hand in various industrial pursuits, the gratifying results of which clearly 
appear in their manufactories. Here in the United States it has been acknowl- 
edged that children who have had the Kindergarten training are able to take 
up trades earlier and to do better work than those who have not. President 



THE OCCUPATIONS. 



10£ 




Hunter, of the Normal College of New York City, says : " Comparing children 
who have had the benefits of the Kindergarten and those who have not, it has. 
been proved that the Kindergarten children are brighter, quicker and more 
mtelligent ; and especially afterwards, in all such work as writing and drawing,, 
requiring muscular power and flexibility in the wrist and fingers, they pre- 
eminently excel." How could it be otherwise ? 

Trainers of animals always commence 
with their dumb pupils when very young, a 
lion-tamer taking his dangerous subject 
while only a few months old. It was re- 
cently announced in a well-known journal 
that a Kindergarten for colts had been estab- 
lished in California. These valuable babies 
are there taken into a special room for a 
short time each day and taught confidence 
in their trainer and to use properly and 
economically their powers in running and trotting. 

" For every talent in man, means of development are offer^^d in the Kinder- 
garten." Formerly it was thought not necessary to give a child certain train- 
ings unless he was to be a specialist, but Froebel declares that he has a right to 
be developed on all sides first, in order that he may attain roundness of charac- 
ter and be fully prepared for life. Moreover, some talents do not show them- 
selves spontaneously, except in the few cases where they are so strongly 
marked that they must find expression. 

The Kindergarten occupations not only improve all talents, but if carried 
into the school, often indicate special fitness for certain pursuits. This is one 
of the most distinctive advantages of the Kindergarten, as is shown by the fact 






Illustration No. 321. 




N. 








•■ 


N 


\ 
\ 
\ 

\ 




/ 
/ 






















' 




/ 




\ 
































































































• 




\ 
























/ 








'^^ ^ 



Illustkation No. 322. Illustkation No. 323. Illustration No. 324. 

that many a scholar who has not had such preliminary training leaves school 
without knowing what particular calling he would enjoy or is fitted for. He 
allows the choice of his field of labor to be governed by chance or circum- 
stances, and too often realizes afterward that he has " mistaken his vocation." 
It must not be forgotten that these occupations are a means, not only of 
physical, but also of intellectual, social and spiritual development, and so are 



104 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



well fitted to produce roundness of character ; for " the. mere scholar and the 
mere hand-laborer are both incomplete human beings." 

The more muscles that are brought into play, the better will be the 
physical development and health. " Two or three repetitions of an impression 
are sometimes enough to produce a habit in a baby," and thus awkward and 
unnecessary movements may be easily overcome and the continued growth of 
muscles used in after life insured, while a decided help is given in all sports 
and games that require correctness of eye and quickness of hand. The child 
trained on Froebel's gifts and occupatiojis will acquire a skilful use of his hands 
and a habit of accurate measurement with the eye which will be his possession 
for life. 

A child is often called restless and naughty, when the fault lies in the fact 
that he has no suitable outlet for his activity. A normally constituted child 
likes to really work and is always asking or seeking to "do something." Refer- 





Illustration No. 325. Illustration No. 826. 

ring to this general quality of childhood, a well-known writer says: "The 
exceptions should be carefully watched as probably indicating some morbid 
condition of the brain or the physical indolence which, in childhood, means 
delicate health." If no proper sphere of action is given, this activity becomes 
destructive. The child breaks his toy apart because he wants to work upon it 
and is irritated and disgusted at the result. 

As urged above, many intellectual and moral qualities are brought into 
play by the occupations. The child must observe and execute accurately ; he 
must have patience and perseverance to complete the work, and these two 
qualities help to control his temper and make him forbearing with his compan- 
ions. He respects himself because he can do something well, learns to respect 
labor, and a love of the beautiful is cultivated, leading to the Giver of all that 
is good. 

Poverty and crime are often the result of a lack of training to do any work 
well. Prisons and reformatory schools are conducting Kindergartens of manual 
training, because so many of their inmates are incompetent to perform skilled 
labor. Why not establish Kindergartens and technical schools instead of paying 
taxes to maintain prisons and reformatories ? 

The most common Kindergarten occupations are sewing, weaving, paper 
folding, cutting and pasting, peas-work, clay-modelling, parquetry, drawing, 
pricking, stringing balls, cubes and cylinders, stringing straws and colored 
papers, making paper chains, and the intelligent use of the peg-board. 



THE OCCUPATIONS. 



105 



Sewing. — The materials for this occupation are easily found and the direc- 
tions are simple. Bristol cards about four inches square come in packages of 
one hundred, and upon them circles, designs in circles and outlines of utensils, 
fruits and flowers may be pricked. Lay the cards on felt or a cushion, and 
make the holes with a Kindergarten pricking needle or a hat-pin. Do not 
make the holes too close together, as fine work is hurtful, and use appropriate 
colors. 





Ilt>tjstratiox No. 327. 

Illustratiox No. 328. 

Cards are also sold already pricked in squares for vertical, horizontal and 
oblique lines and their combinations ; larger cards bear pictures of animals, 
trades, houses, etc., the outlines being marked for the holes to be pricked. 
For older children there are sequences in natural history and botany. 

Sometimes this occupation is overdone because it is easy, the child being 
allowed to work at it too long. Sewing helps to an exact perception of colors 
and their shades, and it also requires neatness, precision, economy and obedi- 
ence. (Illustrations Nos. 316 to 321.) 

Weaving. — In weaving, the cultivation of the aesthetic sense should always 
be kept in mind, and good forms and combinations of colors should, therefore, 
be used ; moreover, after-utility should be considered. Leather mats and 






Illusthation No. 329. 



Il.LUSTKATIOX NO. 330. ILLUSTRATION No. 331. 



wooden strips are sometimes used in the beginning to teach the use of the fingers 
and the principle of over and under, and then under and over. Mothers can 
cut mats out of stiff paper for this first jise. The same principle underlies the 
Kindergarten weaving as. that which governs the manufacture of fabrics. A 
single strand is weak in itself, but a combination of strands is strong. " Union 
is strength," is an axiom at the foundation of church, home and state. In the 
mat, the strips and the needle we have the warp, woof and shuttle. 

Commencing with the simple, one over, one under, which one child told his 
mother was "just like darning stockings," other combinations are formed 
which lead to the most intricate designs. (Illustrations Nos. 322 and 323). 



106 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

Weaving cultivates an appreciation of numbers, requiresJightness and strength, 
because of the deUcate materials combined to make a firm surface, exemplifies 
the connection of opposites, gives perception of color, and increases self-control 
and patience. 

A torn or wrinkled mat cannot be mended to look as good as new, and so 
the child must take the consequences of his own wrong-doing. Have the child 
do as much of the work as possible in pushing up the strips, cutting and pasting. 

The mats and strips are sold together in packages. The strips have a 
narrow margin, and it is better for the child to cut or tear them off one at a 
time. The needle commonly used and several designs are illustrated in the 
^' Christmas Work." 

Paper Folding. — The material for this purpose consists of squares, tri- 
angles and circles of paper. A ground form is the starting-point, and from 





Illustkation ^~'^:^^^^^^^^ 

No. 332. ^^^^^ 

Illustkation No. 333. Illustration No. 334. 

this by slight changes a variety of figures are made. Sequences are thus 
emphasized and the relationship that mathematics bear to artistic production 
is indicated. 

T\\Q. first ground form m the square paper consists of the diameters and 
diagonals, or, as the child calls them, two books and two shawls. (Illustrations 
Nos. 324 to 326.) 

The second ground form in the square paper is as follows : Fold the first, 
then fold the corners in the center, reverse, and fold the corners again to the 
center. When open, this will show quite prominently a square in the center 
with a diagonal line running out from each corner of the square. Crease the 
diagonal lines and the paper will look like a stiff table-cloth. This is called 
the table-cloth ground form or fundamental, and from it follow many of the 
forms given. (Illustrations Nos. 327 to 331.) 

In the triangle the designs follow from the corners folded into the center, 
and in the circle from the diameter. (Illustration No. 332.) 

By means of these simple pieces of paper are illustrated geometrical 
figures, forms of crystals, and objects of life, such as houses, tools, etc. Only 
the simpler forms are given to young children, but the occupation joined with 
drawing follows on into the school. (Illustration No. 2)2>2>) 

Paper-folding requires careful handling, as well as correct sight for laying 
the papers straight and making the patterns regular. It brings out in another 
form lessons learned from the gifts, testing what has been acquired and fixing 
it more thoroughly. 



THE OCCUPATIONS. 



107 



Paper-Cutting and Pasting. — A square of paper is folded by a certain 
rule and cut on certain lines, and the pieces thus cut are then pasted in 
symmetrical forms on sheets of paper. For simple designs the folds are the 
two diameters, and then folding to make a square one-fourth the size of the 
original one. Directions and illustrations will be given in the next paper, 
that on "Christmas Work." Other papers can be bought already lined on one 
triangular fold. The cuts that can be made are innumerable, while the work 
proves most fascinating to the bright and ingenious child and leads to con- 
ventional designing. (Illustration Nos. 334 and 335.) 

Paper-cutting inculcates political econ- 
omy, because each piece that is cut must be 
saved and made use of in the design formed, 
as otherwise the proportion would be spoiled. 
It also teaches that everything is good if in 
its rightful place, 
shows the relation 
of parts and whole, 
and cultivates a 
perception of har- 
mony of form and 
color. It also 
leads away from 
destructiveness by 
providing a proper 
use for the scissors on suitable material. Use round-pointed scissors. 

Free-hand cutting commences with figures which have both sides alike, 
such as vases, etc., and leads gradually out into more intricate designs. It is 
used in the school with drawing. A young child may commence by cutting out 
pictures having broad outlines. Give short cuts at first. 





■r /^«^— 



Illustration No. 335. 



Illusteation No. 336. 




Illustration No. 337 




I, 



Illustration No. 331). 



Illustration No. 338. 

Peas-Work. — This occupation consists of reproducing mathematical forms, 
forms of crystals, and common objects by means of sticks and peas. These 
make the skeletons of the forms or objects, and the chief use of the work is 
the help it gives in analysis and preparation for perspective drawing. (Illus- 
tration No. 336.) 



108 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



Clay-Modelling. — Froebel said, " What children ouiiversally love to do 
must have in it some educational value," and so he gave to the little ones the 
gratification of working in plastic substances. Commencing with the ball, cube 
and cylinder, the child is led out into the world of industry and art around him. 
(Illustrations Nos. 337 to 339.) He learns to express himself, to embody the 
sense of form he has received from the gifts and other Kindergarten work. 
This occupation increases the natural disposition toward art in one child and 
shows whether another possesses any such tendency. It leads directly fo cast- 
ing, modelling, pottery, sculpture and architectural ornamentation. It trains 
both hands, counteracts the tendency to destroy fragile objects, and also 
insures neatness, since good work cannot be done with muddy fingers. A 
small child must necessarily be allowed to roll and pat his clay, but an older one 
should learn as soon as possible to use thumb and fingers only. 



Illustration IS'o. 341. 




iLLUSTliATION NO. 342. 



Illustration No. 340. 



Parquetry. — This is the pasting of small squares, triangles and circles 
into designs, and will be given in connection with the seventh gift. 

Drawing. — The drawing of the Kindergarten can only lay the foundation 
for future artistic work. The Froebel drawing consisted of lines and designs 
on netted paper, but most Kindergartens now teach free-hand drawing by let- 
ting the child draw the ball or cube as he sees it, and also reproduce patterns 
he has laid with the sticks or parquetry. Dotted paper and slates are also used 
for practice in drawing lines. Outline drawing consists of laying down paste- 
board patterns of geometrical forms, flowers, leaves or animals, and drawing 
around them. Some finishing touches may be afterward put in. After a pat- 
tern has been used many times, the figure may be drawn without it. 

Pricking. — On account of injury to the eyes resulting from fine work, and 
the danger of wounding the fingers with the needle, this occupation has been 
discarded in many Kindergartens. 



CHRISTMAS WORK. 



10» 



The stringing of balls, cubes a?id cylinders was mentioned in connection with 
the second gift. The same work may be done by alternating short straws and 
small colored circles. When the materials are made at home, wet the straws 
before cutting. (Illustration No. 340.) 

Small j-^r/^i- <?/"/^/^r may be pasted together to represent a chain. (Illus- 
tration No. 341.) 

The Peg-Board. — This is used to teach position and numbers. It is a 
smooth board measuring 6x6 inches, checkered with half-inch squares, and 
with holes at the corners of these squares to receive pegs. (Illustration 
No. 342.) 

Preserve the child's work in some form — either in a scrap-book or in the 
shape of presents to friends. 

The intention of all the occupations is to lead the child to know and 
express himself. Much care is necessary to adapt them to the child and to 
connect them properly with the gifts. 



ELEVENTH PAPER* 



CHRISTMAS WORK. 



" Oh, clap, clap the hands, 
And sing out with glee, 
For Christmas is coming. 
And merry are we ! " 

The Christmas work in the Kindergarten follows naturally from the occu- 
pations just described in the preceding paper, hence a description will here be 
given of the articles that may be made in the occupation work and given 
away to their friends by the children at Christmas time. 





Illustration Xo. 343, 



IlLI STHATIOX Xo. 344. 



In the Kindergarten celebration of Christmas the pleasure of giving is 
emphasized, while the idea that presents are to be received is kept in the back- 
ground. Each child works with enthusiasm, for is he not to give mama the 



110 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



joy of having something made by her darling's own little hands ? And though 
the sewing knots and the weaving goes wrong with nearly every strand, he 
patiently rectifies the faults and perseveres to the end. Appropriate songs are 






Illustkation No. 345. 



Illustration N"o. 346. 



Illustration No. 347. 



learned, stories of the Christ child are told, and the very atmosphere seems 
filled with the message, '^ It is more blessed to give than to receive." Thus, 
while the eye and hand are being trained, the love of the beautiful developed 
and ingenuity fostered, the whole moral nature is being unconsciously elevated. 

Mrs. Alice H. Putnam says in one 
-of her lectures : "The whole matter of 
moral training seems so tremendous, it 
seems so hard a thing to get at the in- 
dividual conscience of each child, that 
every earnest person must at one time 





Illustration No. 348, 



Illustration No. 349. 



or another ask, ' Who is sufficient for these things ? ' What if the answer should 
be as of old, that they are hid from the wise and prudent and revealed unto 
babes ! Is it too much to believe that certain lines of work in which we know 
children are always interested might be so managed as to embody some of these 
great lessons ? Is it claiming too much for the element of color, for instance, 
to say that a right use of colors — not merely a power to recognize the colors of 



CHRISTMAS WORK. 



Ill 



the prism, but such a use as will bring the child into the very closest contact 
with harmonized tints and shades, will have a refining tendency? Will it not 
help to soften that which is harsh, to modify coarse tastes, and will it 
not begin to fill the heart as it does the eye ? Will not the actual 
making of symmetrical forms at least make the child more conscious of 
that which is out of proportion, and if he knows the law by which he 
can gain the result which has pleased him, will he not be apt to follow 
it occasionally, at least ? If he once feels the delight which comes 



Illus- 
tration 
Xo. 350. 




'W//////////////// 

W////////MM 

w///////M///////m 

y///////////////////////////j 



W//////////////////////M 

7////////////////////////////, 

W////////////////////m 



'"W/////////////////////M 



w//////////////////Mm/////m/////// 



v////m//////M//////m//m//////m 
w//////////////////////////////////////m 
y///m///////f///////////////////M^^^^^ 



SS^/m//////M/m///////////////M 

V///////M////////////////M///////////////////M^^^^^^^^ 

V/mm///////////////////M//M//////////////////^^^^^^^^^^^ 




Illustration Xo. 351, 



Illustration No. 352. 

he not be the 



from giving that which he has himself created to another, wi 

more ready to bring the same happiness again and again ? " 

One of the easiest occupations for 
Christmas work is that of sewing, and 
even its simplest products may be offered 
as gifts. The four-inch square of white 




Mm/miH/m/mmmmmmmm/mm 
\m//mM/m//////M//////M 



w////////m/M 
wimmi/m 



w/i mmiimi/im//i/m//miim. 
...^im///////m//////////////Mmm 

Xu/if/M/ii/mmi/immmM 

■wi\imimiiiiii///Mi/im/im: 
\'////m/////////m////mm 

\>j:w/m//m////////////m 




'MM&MM'.' 




Illustbation No. 353. Illustration No. 354. 

paper upon which the little three-year-old's fingers have sewed a circle in 
red is not thrown away ; two squares of blotting-paper are placed at the back, 



112 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



the three are fastened together at one corner by a ribbon bow, and the result is 
a gift, which, though exceedingly simple, may express aslnuch love and require 
asmucheifort by the child J^^ ^^ many a larger and more 

costly one. (Illustrations ^y w^ Nos. 343 and 344.) 

A trifle more skill may ^^ TOv be required in the making of 

a needle-case. Cut two ^^ Wn. circular sections of stiff 

Bristol-board, prick a hole j^ llltV at the center of each and 



\\ 



// 



IliliUSTRATK)^ No. 355. 

corresponding holes near their 

edges, and sew with two colors 

alternately, producing a wheel ' V\ 

effect. Cover the wrong sides 
with colored paper cut the same size and paste on. For the needles, provide 

two pieces of flannel, either white or in a 
delicate shade of pink or blue ; pink the 
edges, place them between the cardboards, 
and fasten all together in two places with 
ribbon bows. Geometrical designs, and out- 
line pictures of fruit, flowers and animals 
may be used in similar ways, and large and 
beautiful patterns, already stamped for 
:ing, can be purchased at Kindergarten supply 
;s. (Illustrations Nos. 345 to 349.) 




Illustration No. 356. 







Illustration No. 357. 







Illustration No. 358. 



Weaving also yields many pretty articles for presents. One of the first that 
comes to mind is the calendar, for which mats of any size may be used. The 



CHRISTMAS WORK. 



113 



ones illustrated are seven inches square, with one-eighth inch strips. A spring; 

needle is made for the weaving. (Illustration No. 350.) The colors here used 

are maroon and green, purple and yellow, and 
a reddish-brown and yellow. The pattern 
for the calendar is as follows : 



Over 3, under 3, for the first strand. 
" I, " I, " " second " 
*• 3, " 3, " " third 

This completes a square, and the order 
should then be reversed, thus : 

Under 3, over 3, for the fourth strand. 
" I, " I, " " fifth 
•' 3, " 3, " '■' sixth 

Illustration No. 359. 
Then work as at first, and so alternate to the end. When the mat is 
finished and the edges pasted, fasten a small calendar in the center by means of 
brads, and tie the mat to a piece of stiff cardboard by two bows of ribbon, 
leaving a loop for hanging. (Illustrations Nos. 351 and 352.) 








Illustration No. 360, Illustration No. 361. Illustration No. 362. 

Woven mats make pretty sachet-holders. Weave a design of two and two 
in steps, as follows : 

Over 2, under 2. 

Under i, over 2, under 2. 

Under 2, over 2, under 2, to the left. 

Over I, under 2. '^ 

Over 2, under 2. 

Repeat the above, paste neatly, fill with cotton sprinkled with sachet- 
powder and tie with ribbon. Or, use the pattern. 

Over 2, under i. 
Under 2, over i, 



and paste together like a roller ; put inside a sheet of tissue paper slashed at 



114 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



the ends and extending beyond the mat, and fill witfTpowdered cotton. Tie 
ribbon about the ends, and arrange a loop for suspension. (Illustrations Nos. 
353 to 355.) 

Half-inch strips of pretty papers are sold for free-hand weaving. These 
may be braided into mats for lamps, and their ends may be cut into narrower 
strips and curled. (Illustration No. 356.) The two colors used for illustration 




Illustration 
No. 363, 



Illustration 

No, 364. 



Illustration 
No. 365. 



Illustration 
No, 366. 



are red and white. Double the red strips and pin them close together to a 
large pad or cushion, with the closed and open ends in alternation. To make 
the cushion or pad, pin a towel tightly about a large, flat book. Commence 





Illustration No. 367. 



r 



Illustration No. 368. 



Illustration No. 369. 



with one of the other strips at the right, and put it first over and then between 
those pinned to the cushion. Then begin at the left and weave similarly 
toward the right. (Illustration No. 357.) 

The handkerchief case shown at illustrations Nos. 358 and 359 has twelve 
strips each way. Ends are slipped in on the inside, and pasted near the edge 



CHRISTMAS WORK. 



115 



of the mat. Two mats of the same size are made and are interlaced together 
with ribbon at one side, a bow being formed at each end, and one corner is 
turned back and fastened with a bow. The case is then complete. 

An oblong mat may be woven and fastened tightly about a small drinking 
glass, and the ends may be arranged in small loops at the top and may be cut 



if 



\ 




Illustration No. 370. 



Illustration No. 371. 



and curled at the bottom. Red and black dress braid will make convenient 
strips for a child to practise with. 

Paper-cutting furnishes a great deal of training and amusement for little 
folks, and the designs may be used in various ways. The Kindergarten papers 
for this purpose are four inches square. (Illustration No. 360.) For simple 






Illustration No. 374. 



Illustration No. 372. 



Illustration No. 373. 




Illustration No. 375. 



designs, fold a paper twice at the center (illustration No. 361), making four 
squares, or " windows " as the children sometimes call them. Fold together first 
(illustration No. 362), and then this half together (illustration No. 363). Illus- 
tration No. 364 shows a closed corner ; hold this closed corner down, and draw 
a line from corner to corner, right and left (illustration No. 365). Fold the upper 
point down to the line (illustration No. 366), cut on these lines (illustration No. 
367), and make the design (illustration No. 368). Any number of designs will 
follow from the different cuts on the small square. More difficult ones may be 
readily devised. Fold the paper into halves both ways (illustration No. 369), 
and then diagonally both ways (illustration No. 370). Place the paper in diago- 
nal folds longest line down (illustration No. 371). Fold both ends up to top or 



116 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



apex (illustrations Nos. 372 and 373). Turn with base down (illustration No. 

374). Draw the part circles as shown at illus- 
tration No. 375, cut on these lines, and arrange 
and paste the pattern. Place tissue paper at 
the back to be used for shaving, fasten with 
ribbon, (illustration No. 376), and form a loop 
for hanging. This gift the children like to 
make for their fathers. 

A great variety of articles may be con- 
structed in parquetry work, which is derived 
from the planes of the seventh gift. Papers 
in different colors may be purchased, cut in 
small circles, squares, half-squares, equilateral 
triangles, obtuse-angled triangles, right-angled 
scalene triangles and rhomboids. These will 
form many pleasing designs, and may be used 
Illustration No. 376, ^^ decorate match-holders, photograph-frames, 

boxes, etc. To make a pretty little match- 
holder, first cut from stiff Bristol-board an equilateral triangle measuring ten 






Illustration No. 877. 



Illustration No. 378. 



Illustration No 379. 



inches at each side. (Illustration No. 377.) Find the center of each side, and 
draw lines between these points, thus forming an equilateral triangle with five- 
inch sides inside the large triangle (illustration No. 378). 
The inner triangle will form the bottom of the ornament, 
and the side triangles the sides. Now, to leave an 
opening at the top, fold the points almost down to the 
bottom (illustration No. 379). Tie together with a bow 
of ribbon at each corner, form a suspension loop, and 
decorate the sides with a constrasting color. As a 
whole, this is an excellent problem in inventional 
geometry. An artistic match-holder may be made of 
pale pink Bristol-board with dark triangles. (Illustration 
No. 38b.) Illustration No. 380. 




THE GAMES. 117 

TWELFTH PAPER. 

THE GAMES. 

The games are the organized plays of the Kindergarten, the dramatic 
personification of what* the child sees in the life of the world about him. 
Play, or the play spirit, is the basis here as in all Kindergarten work. Play is 
universal. We find pictures on the old Egyptian monuments of children play- 
ing. In all countries and all ages not merely children but grown persons as 
well, find play, or some form of recreation, necessary to health and happiness. 
Journals of hygiene advise open air sports as the best gymnastics, because they 
contain the interest and stimulus of play. Even animals are not exempt from 
the universal desire to* play, as witness the kitten going round and round after 
its tail, the dog frisking before his master, or the horse galloping over the field 
when freed from the harness. There are times, as on a bright June morning, 
when Mother Earth herself, freshly clad in blossoms and verdure, appears to be 
glad to be alive and having a grand play spell. ' 

A Glimpse of Froebel. — The Baroness Von Marenholtz-Btilow, who has 
done much for the dissemination of Froebel's Kindergarten principles, was first 
attracted toward the cause by seeing Froebel himself conduct the games with a 
group of village children in the town where she was stopping. " In the year 
1849, at the end of May," she writes, " I arrived at the baths of Liebenstein, in 
Thuringia, and took up my abode in the same house as in the preceding year. 
After the usual salutations, my landlady, in answer to m.y inquiry as to what 
was happening in the place, told me that a few weeks before there had settled on 
a small farm near the springs a man who played and sang with the village chil- 
dren and, therefore, went by the name of ' the old fool.' Some days after I 
met in my walks this so-called ' old fool.' A tall, spare man with long grey hair 
was leading a troop of village children between the ages of three and eight, 
most of them barefooted and scantily clothed, who marched two and two up a 
hill, where, having marshalled them for a play, he practiced them upon a song 
belonging to it. The loving patience with which he did this, the whole bear- 
ing of the man while the children played various games under his direction, 
were so moving that tears came into my companion's eyes as well as my own, 
and I said to her : ' This man is called an old fool by these people, but, perhaps, 
he is one of those men who are ridiculed or stoned by contemporaries and to 
whom future generations build monuments.' " Seeking an acquaintance with 
Froebel, she made a deep study of the system and was from that time on a most 
earnest and interested Kindergarten worker. 

How to make the most and best use of Kindergarten games is now engag- 
ing the attention of all earnest teachers of children. In a recent number of the 
Kindergarten Magazine it is reported that calls for help and inspiration in this 
direction are coming from all parts of the country. In the musical world, loo, 



118 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

during the Winter of 1894-5, interest was turned toward~the history of children's 
songs and games, showing how these songs and the incidents that gave rise to 
them mirror the character, education and customs of the people. Among the 
songs considered in that connection were the familiar " Sally in our Alley," 
" Little Sally Waters " and " Here we go Round the Mulberry Bush." A series 
of articles on this interesting subject appeared in the Neiv York Tribime, written 
by Mr. Krehbiel, the accomplished musical critic of that newspaper. 

Play the Business, of Childhood. — Philosophers, noting this tireless play 
instinct in the young child, began early to inquire into its use. Professor Hail- 
mann, in one of his pedagogical translations, reviews the opinions of past 
educators as follows : " Plato thinks that ' the plays of children have the mighti- 
est influence on the maintenance or non-maintenance of laws ; ' that during 
the first three years the ' soul of the nursling ' should be m^de ' cheerful and 
kind ' by keeping away from him ' sorrow and fears and pain ' and by soothing 
him with song, the sound of the pipe and rhythmic movement ; that at the next 
period of life, when the children ' almost invent ' their games, they ought to 
come together at the temples and play under the supervision of nurses who are 
to take cognizance of their behavior. ' From the first years,' he says, ' the 
plays of children ought to be subject to laws, for if these plays and those who 
take part in them are arbitrary and lawless, how can children ever become virtu- 
ous men, abiding by and obedient to law ? If, on the contrary, children are 
trained to submit to laws in their plays, the love for law enters their souls with 
the music accompanying the games, never leaves them, and helps in their devel- 
opment.' Aristotle advises the need 'of entertaining employment ' for chil- 
dren. Luther thinks that ' to restrain the natural gayety of childhood serves 
only to spoil the temper both of body and mind ; this gamesome humor, which 
is wisely adapted by Nature to their age and temper, should be encouraged 
to keep up their spirits and improve their health and strength ; the chief art 
is to make all that they have to do sport and play.' Richter says : ' Activity 
alone can bring and hold serenity and happiness. Unlike our games, the 
plays of children are the expressions of serious activity, although in light, airy 
dress.' " 

"What gives pleasure to children generally and at all times, serves for their 
development in some way ; therefore, physical development is the unconscious 
aim of all activity in early childhood." 

Play is the natural and universal activity of the child, the business of child- 
hood, the means by which he is to become acquainted with life about him and 
his own powers. It is the work suited to his state of growth. Each period of 
life — babyhood, childhood, youth, manhood — has the means supplied by Nature 
for its full development, and through the experiences of each stage comes prep- 
aration for the stage beyond. In the Education of Man Froebel says, speaking 
of the plays of infancy and childhood : " Play is the highest stage of the 
child's development, of man's development at that period, for it is the spon- 
taneous utterance of the inner life flowing from an inner necessity and impulse. 
Play is the purest and most spiritual product of man's activity at this period, 



THE GAMES. lli> 

and is at once the type and image^ of human life in its entire range, of the 
secret life that flows through mankind and Nature ; hence it gives birth to 
joy, freedom, contentment, tranquility and peace with the world. In it are the 
springs of all good ; the child that plays sturdily and with quiet energy, holding 
out to the point of bodily fatigue, will surely become a sturdy, quiet and steadfast 
man, promoting with self-sacrifice his own and others' welfare. Is not the 
playing child the most beautiful sight at this period of life — the child fully 
absorbed in his play and falling asleep while thus absorbed ? Play, as above 
indicated, is at this period no mere sport ; it is deeply serious and significants. 
Cherish and nourish it, you who are mothers ; protect and guard it, you fathers! 
The penetrating eye of one thoroughly acquainted with human nature plainly 
discerns in the spontaneously chosen play of the child his future inner history. 
The plays of this period are the germs of the entire future life, for in them the 
whole nature of the child is expanding and showing his finest traits, his inmost 
soul. In this period lie the springs of the entire course of human life, and upon 
the proper conduct of life now will it depend whether the future is to be clear 
or clouded, gentle or boisterous, calm or agitated, industrious or idle, gloomy 
and morbid or bright and productive, obtuse or keenly receptive, creative or 
destructive — whether it is to bring concord and peace or discord and war. On 
play, too, depend likewise, in keeping with the peculiar natural constitution of 
the child, his relations to father and mother, brothers and sisters, to the com- 
munity and the race, to Nature and to God. For as yet the life of the child in 
its various aspects, individual and social, natural and religious, is a life of undi- 
vided unity and simplicity ; he scarcely knows which is dearest to him, the flowers 
themselves, his own joy in them, the joy his mother feels when he brings them to 
show her, or the dim sense of the kind Giver. Who would analyze the joys in 
which childhood is so rich ? If the child is injured during these tender years, 
if the germs of his future life are enfeebled, then he can grow to the strength of 
manhood only with the greatest toil and exertion, and only with the greatest 
difficulty can he save himself, during the intervening development and education^ 
from becoming crippled, or at least one-sided." 

Froebel was the first to organize and utilize play as a factor in education, 
thus guiding and directing the surplus energy of the child until it merges into 
the work of the school and of life. In play it is the exercising of the child's 
activity that gives pleasure. In work the pleasure follows from the result or 
end attained by activity. Froebel believed that the child's play can be utilized 
to awaken his perceptions, and that in imitating the life about him he is devel- 
oping the possibilities of a complete human being. This is Froebel's idea of the 
directed Kindergarten game. 

Physical and Ethical. — The games gather the experiences derived from 
the gifts and occupations and give an opportunity to live out what has been pre- 
viously observed. Thus the games form another factor in educating the whole 
child. First the physical being is brought into active exercise, but not in the 
sense of gymnastics as such. The child stands straight, keeping in position on 
the circle because that is one requirement of the play. Being actively inter- 



120 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

^sted in the singing, the deep, full breath and proper expansion of the chest 
naturally follow. Then, if a boy is a blacksmith hammering new horse-shoes, 
a carpenter sawing or lifting boards, or joins with others to represent 
a little stream flowing between stones and under bridges, or is one of a flock 
of birds flying over the fields or hopping in the dewy grass, he is constantly 
exercising different sets of muscles until all parts of the body have been 
brought into active play. The physical training, while most important, is thus 
incidental and holds the interest of the child as no set exercises could do. 
In this connection it may be well to say that in games requiring violent move- 
ments the accompanying song is best given by those not taking an active part, 
the children being told that some may be a chorus and sing the song for those 
who show the play. All are then engaged and the action does not interfere 
with the natural breathing required for the song. 

The mind of the child is also employed, his creative powers being awakened. 
His imagination is likewise exercised by entering into and acting out the life he 
wishes to represent, and each new experience brings him into a higher plane of 
being. If he represents a bird, a fish or a frolicsome colt, his intellect is trained, 
helping him to understand and enter into the life of what he is representing and, 
for the time being, to really be that thing. 

Ethical teaching is also included in the Kindergarten game. Through this 
life and movement in which the child rejoices and his delight in representing 
Nature, there comes to him a spiritual truth which leads him to trace all life 
back to its source, making true religion possible. The game is the child's in- 
troduction to the necessary adjustments of the larger social life of the world. 
-'Two cannot play together except they be agreed." Thus the community 
spirit is fostered, and the child finds himself one of many, each exercised in self- 
control and self-sacrifice and doing his part to make himself and others happy. 
It is also an aid in self-government, the child's will being strengthened and 
guided, for he finds that obedience to law gives the truest freedom, both on 
the material and spiritual plane. He discovers this when he is excluded from 
the games because he disturbs the unity. He soon learns to submit his will 
to the general good, not from the oppression of the law or fear of punishment, 
but from the love of right. The family life is emphasized, the shelter and 
peace of the home, the care of the stronger for the weaker, the celebration of 
family festivals, departure and separation and the joy of reunion and home- 
coming. 

> The child plays the part of the baker, the joiner, the grass-mower, the sailor, 
and thus learns respect for bodily labor and notes the patience, perseverance 
and skill required on the part of these workers. He observes the interdepend- 
ence of all people, and through this study of how individuals and nations help 
each other, he gains his first idea of the universal brotherhood of man. In 
such games as the " Weather-vane " and the " Trees swaying in the wind," are 
pictured the unseen forces of Nature. 

Generally speaking, physical training and ethical teaching are the predom- 
inating objects of the Kindergarten games. There are other important lessons 



THE GAMES. 121 

to each of which an entire paper might be devoted, but these will be merely 
mentioned in the summary of a good Kindergarten game. No one will gainsay 
the value of the physical training, and as to the ethical teaching. Dr. Parkhurst 
in a recent article " On the Training of a Child, " says : " A child's training 
should be ethical rather than intellectual. It is easier to make a person bright 
than sound. Intellectual training may be gained from books, but morality can- 
not be printed." 

Management of the Games. — As to the general management of the Kin- 
dergarten games, when the period for this exercise arrives, usually about the 
middle of the forenoon, the children form in marching line, singing some such 
simple melody as this : 

" We'll march and march and march around, , 
And marching, gaily sing, 
Then hand in hand so quietly, 
We'll quickly form a ring. 
Tra, la, la, la, tra, la, la, la, 

Tra, la, la, la, la, la, tra, la, la, la, \ 

Tra, la, la, la, la, la ! " 

All joining hands, sing : 

" Merrily, merrily, let us form a ring, 
Joyfully, joyfully, let us dance and sing ! 
Tra, la, la, la, la, la, la, tra, la, la, la, la, la, la ! 
Merrily, merrily let us form a ring ! " 

Then follows another short song : 

" Now the time has come for play, 
Tra, la, la, la, la, la, (clapping hands) 
Let our leader show the way, 
Tra, la, la, tra, la, la ! 
Heads erect and join your hands, 
Each beside the. other stands, 
Tra, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ! " 

The Kindergartner, who supervises the games, advances into the center of 
the ring, when all sing : 

** Let us look at Miss , 

So happy and gay ; 

Let us look at Miss , 



What does she now play ? " 

Now the Kindergartner either gives some gesture to indicate a game^ or 
chooses a child to select one who declares his preference in a similar m.anner. 
After the game is played, the first child chooses another person to come to the 
center of the ring as leader, shaking hands with him as he advances, and then 
himself retires to his place in the circle. As each new leader takes his place in 



122 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

the center, the last-named song is sung as a salutation~as he makes known his 
game. 

This illustrates one way of opening the games. That it should be exactly 
like the above is neither necessary nor desirable, for the stereotyped game is 
contrary to Froebel's principles, the idea of the game being to dramatize the 
thought brought before the child for the day or the week. In games represent- 
ing Nature the children should be encouraged to interpret what they feel to be 
the characteristic life of the thing represented. For all to be constrained to 
make the same gesture, at the same time and in the same direction, is to ren- 
der the play stiff and unnatural. In trade games a more strict imitation is 
necessary. But in all cases the child should first be prepared through talks 
and pictures until he has a vivid conception of the subject, and can make 
definite his reproduction. One Kindergartner explains her own methods thus : 
"We let children try to play out their crude and unformed ideas, and then sug- 
gest to them each time additions or changes until these ideas become educa- 
tional, and at the same time are in a certain sense free, spontaneous play 
directed." Sometimes the children themselves make the suggestions and thus 
help each other to get clear and definite ideas. In all cases keep within the 
experiences of the children, what they have seen, felt and thought ! Another 
important rule is to keep the child simple and unconscious by making the thing 
he does and not the child prominent. 

In The Kindergarten for April, 1892, Mrs. Walter Ward, a prominent London 
worker, gives the following valuable suggestions for insuring a good Kindergar- 
ten game : 

" I.— Take care to select for each season of the year an appropriate series of 
games. 

" II. — Reflect carefully on the respective duties of the head teacher, the 
pianist, the assistant teachers. 

" III. — Classify the peculiarities of individual children, physical, mental, 
musical, linguistic. 

" IV. — Make up your mind what to do about tired children, and who 
should look after them. 

" V. — Consider the various physical exercises that may be introduced in 
connection with the games ; it will be a useful exercise to classify the .games by 
their physical aspect alone. 

" VI. — The musical side must not be neglected. 

" VII. — The intellectual teaching is important, as it is the necessary factor 
in securing the interest of the children and thus maintaining order in the games. 

"Finally, a true Kindergarten game affords opportunity for: (a) intel- 
lectual training, (b) ethical teaching, (c) physical exercise, (d) dramatic action, 
(e) musical and rhythmical training, (f) concise, simple and accurate language." 

We give the " Blacksmith " * as a representative trade game and one much 
in favor with the children : 

* From Songs and Games for Little Ones, by Gertrude Walker and Harriet S. Jenks, published by the Oliver 
Ditson Co., New York. 



THE GAMES. 



123 



Old Song. 



THE BLACKSMITH. 

Arranged by Mlsa E. M. Parker. 




f=4=^-=k- 



hammer is 



r 



heaF - y but his arm 



m=f=f-- 



strong. 
I 



1=^ 



Chohus. 




i. He heats the iron in the fire, 

Then bammei-s out a large, round tire. 

CUOBUS. 

S. Here comes a horse, — what will he do ? 
He'll hammer out a nice new shoe. 
CnoBi/s. 

4. Here comes a man with a broken chain; 
He'll hammer the links together again. 
Chorus. 



For further reading in regard to the games see 



7Vie Kindergarten and School^ 
Education of Man^ 

On the Training of a Child, 

Kindergarten Magazine, 

Songs and Games for Little Ones, 



by Four Active Workers. 

Hailmann's translation. 

( Dr. Parkhurst, in The Ladies^ 

\ Home Journal for August '95. 

For April, 1892. 

by Misses Walker and Jenks. 



THIRTEENTH PAPER. 

DIE MUTTER UND KOSELIEDER. 

Frederick Froebel's Mutter und Koselieder, or Mother-play and N'ursery Songs, 
as it is commonly called, is a book of over fifty songs and games for the moth- 
er's use with her children. Each selection contains a song for the child, accom- 
panied by music, a picture illustrating the thought contained in the song and a 
motto and commentary for the further enlightenment of the mother. This 
book was published in Blankenburg, Germany, in 1844, nearly twenty years 



124 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

after The Education of Man was written. The Educatioiiof Man may be said to 
embody Froebel's theory, while the Mother-play applies the results or experience 
of his seventeen years of active work at Rudolstadt, Jena and Blankenburg. 

Froebel had spent much time observing his countrywomen, especially such 
as might be called artist-mothers, in play with their children. Selecting such 
songs as were common to the race and handed down by tradition, he freed them 
from all that was coarse, uneducational and unchildlike, tested them in the fam- 
ilies of his friends and developed this book " to raise the mother's instinct into 
insight^ that she might by conscious aims and methods aid the growth of her 
child's limbs and senses, and awaken its moral and spiritual emotions." Here 
we have given universal and ideal experiences of child life. The child of six 
years, as he turns the pages of the book, finds it a record of his life up to that 
time. Froebel says his object is to " reveal the process of development of the 
inner, instinctive life of childhood and convert the intuitive, purposeless action 
of mothers into an intelligent plan," in a way never before attempted. So, 
upon these productions of instinct in the everyday home life he saw about him, 
he brought to bear his own insight into nature and life and revised and adapted 
them to suit his purpose. 

Adverse Criticism. — The book has met with much adverse criticism, the 
verses and music being pronounced poor, and the pictures — the work of a sign- 
painter — crude, even ridiculous, by some. Froebel did not have the power of 
expressing himself easily and his thoughts are often clothed in language that is 
obscure. He himself says of the book : " I have here laid down the fundamen- 
tal ideas of my educational theory ; whoever has grasped the pivotal idea of 
this book understands what I am aiming at." Again: "If only mothers and 
teachers would follow its guidance, they would at last see, in spite of all oppo- 
sition, that I am right." 

The Baroness Marenholtz-Biilow, who was the first person in Europe to 
undertake the dissemination of the principles laid down in the Motho^-play^ de- 
clared that in no other way was so much opposition to Froebel's system excited 
as in any endeavor to circulate this book and yet, on the other hand, there was 
no book that gave so much pleasure to mothers when once it was understood. 
The Baroness zealously defended the Mother-play^ a defense taken up and con- 
tinued by Frau Henriette Schrader, a great-niece of Froebel and a member of 
his last training class. Frau Schrader is now Director of the Pestalozzi-Frocbel 
Hans in Berlin, where all her work, both with the Kindergarten children and 
with the pupils of her training class, shows a beautiful application of the princi- 
ples embodied in the Mother-play. 

It is generally conceded that the most profound student of the Mother-play 
in the United States is Miss Susan E. Blow, who first introduced its study into 
the schools of St. Louis some ten or fifteen years ago. Miss Blow has lately 
made a new free translation of the book, which, as she is an accomplished Ger- 
man scholar, promises to throw new light upon Froebel's thought. Merry Songs 
and Games, by the late Mrs. Clara B. Hubbard, of St. Louis, was the first Ameri- 
can song-book to set parts of the Motherplay to new and better music. In Eng- 



DIE MUTTER UND KOSELIEDER. 125- 

land a well-known translation was made by Frances and Emily Lord. The 
quotations used in this paper are from the translation published by Lee & 
Shepard, of Boston. 

Froebel himself used the Mother-play SiS the basis of all his lectures to moth- 
ers and Kindergartners, and to-day it is fast becoming an important study in 
training-schools and mothers' clubs for all who wish to train little children 
according to Froebel's principles and methods. As the care and training of 
children naturally devolves upon women, it is hoped that coming years will find 
Froebel's book not only put into the hands of teachers and mothers, for which 
last it was especially intended, but that its study will also be made a part of 
every girl's education as a preparation for possible motherhood. 

In studying the Mother-play certain principles, which appear throughout 
Froebel's teachings, are to be kept in mind. The first of these, in the words of 
the Baroness, is that " the keynote of the book is the analogy between the 
development of humanity and that of the individual." The second principle is 
the importance and opportunities of infancy, or the germ stage. A third relates 
to the symbolism of material things. This was especially brought out in the 
explanation of the second gift. A fourth thought concerns unity, or the child's 
relations to God, Nature and his fellow-man. This last includes the necessity 
of developing harmoniously this threefold relation and the desirability of having 
this threefoldness illustrated in each play as physical, mental and moral train- 
ing. 

Miss Brooks' Classification. — The following classification of the Mother- 
play^ is the one used by the Kindergarten Department of the Teacher's College, 
New York City. Permission to use it was kindly granted by its originator,. 
Miss Angeline Brooks : 

" The first Classification is According to the Development of the Child, as 
follows : I. To Grass Mowing ; II. To Children at the Tower ; III. To Light 
Songs ; IV. To Songs of Knights ; V. The Remainder of the Book. 

" The next classification is based on unity and makes this division of the 
book : 

"I._The Child in Unity with Self and the External World : Play of the 
Limbs; Falling; Weather-vane; All's Gone; Taste; Smell; Tick-tack; Little 
Gardener. 

"II. — Unity in Home and Family Life : Thumbs and Fingers ; This is the 
Mother ; Go to Sleep ; Grandmother and Mother ; Flower Basket (father's 
birthday) ; This little Thumb is one ; Hide and Seek (literal separation) ; The 
Coo-coo, (spiritual separation and reunion). 

" III. — The Child in Sympathetic Relations (unity) with the Lower Ani- 
mals : Beckon to Chickens ; Beckon to Pigeons ; Fishes ; Rabbit ; Bird's 
Nest ; Pigeon House ; The Barnyard Gate. 

" IV. — The Child in Unity with Self and Others (through the industries) : 
Grass Mowing ; Charcoal Burner ; Baker ; Wheelwright ; Joiner ; Carpen- 
ter ; Toy-man and Target (unity through commerce). 

"V. — The Child in Unity with Others because of Right Doing: Knights 



126 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

and Good Child ; Knights and Bad Child ; Hide Thee^^^hild ; Children at the 
Tower. ^ 

" VI. — The Inneruniting life : Light Bird ; Little Window ; Rabbit on the 
Wall ; Boy and Moon ; Girl and Stars ; Little Child Drawing ; Church-door and 
Window over it." 

First Group. — The first group in Miss Brooks' second classification of the 
Mother-play relates to the child in unity with self and the external world, and it 
begins with the mother at her child's birth. 

Froebel was not satisfied with his teaching until he had conceived the Kinder- 
garten and back of that again declared that the child's development, to be one 
continuous, unbroken whole, must start with the baby in its mother's arms. His 
teachings continually, and upon deeply-conceived principle, carry us back to 
the beginnings of all things. " The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that 
rules the world." 

For at least the first three months of the child's life, it should be kept as 
quiet as possible, handled by few people, its mother being the best caretaker, 
and not kissed, tossed in play or carried into noisy places. During this time it 
is one with the mother, being visibly affected by both her physical condition 
and her states of mind. 

Play of the Limbs. — When the child commences to make the first vague 
movements with its arms and legs, then Froebel would commence the nursery 
play. This is his motto for the mother : 

When first the child delights to try 
What strength within his limbs may lie. 
The mother's nursery-play begins. 

It is a hint from Heaven, 

Unto the mother given, 
Through outward, inner life to waken ; 
Through play and thoughtful sport to quicken 
The sense that feeling, foresight brings. 

His song for the child is : 

How the little limbs fly out, 
Tossing, rollicking all about ! 
Thus will they gain life and strength, — 

Stamp the flax-seed out at length, 
That feeds the pretty lamp all night, 
Where m.other's love burns still and clear, 
While watching o'er her child so dear. 

The picture given with song and motto is divided into three parts. The 
first represents the child on a blanket spread over a table, kicking and cooing 
after its morning bath. The child instinctively wants to join in the nurtur- 
ing care and service going on around him, as thus he tests his strength to pre- 
pare for action in life. To meet this desire the mother plays with him and when 
he pushes out hand or foot, allows it to come against her hand or breast and 
gently pushes it back again. The child takes pleasure in this exertion and 



DIE MUTTER UND KOSELIEDER, 127 

repeats the act over and over again, each time making the motion a little more 
definite. He also begins to realize that his mother has a personality separate 
from his own and it awakens a bond of sympathy between them. Whatever the 
mother is, that she imparts to her child, therefore the first aim of the mother 
must be to make herself right. "You cannot train up a child in the way he 
should go, unless you happen to be going that way yourself." 

On the front cover of his book Froebel has the words : " Mother-love, 
mother-play, mother song." So the mother plays, sings and talks to her baby. 
The play develops him physically, the song appeals to his emotions, and her 
words give mental training. His gestures and cries are his first language. As 
the play gives purpose to his motions, so the words and song give him an idea 
of the definiteness of language. The spiritual side of the child develops with 
the physical and is reached through it. The spiritual union or oneness with the 
mother leads to God, of whose love earthly ties and affections are intended to 
serve as types and symbols. 

Every mother should rejoice in a strong, kicking, crowing child. He may 
be harder to hold, but physical vigor bespeaks mental and moral power. 
Former ages disregarded and neglected the body, but this age traces the 
connection between sound bodies and sound minds, the relation between grace 
of physique and grace of spirit. 

Each obstacle overcome, however small, gives greater strength. The body 
grows and holds its own through physical exercise, while intellectual power and 
strength of character are gained by overcoming obstacles. We hear a great 
deal nowadays about atrophied faculties, faculties that die from want of use. 
" Possibilities are inherent, but their development depends upon exercise." By 
her joyous play with her child the mother encourages him to delight in effort, 
and thus lays the foundation of a sturdy independence in after life. By making 
the exertion a little more difficult each time, she gives the child the idea of con- 
tinued and increased perseverance and that she encourages and opposes him for 
his own good and growth. If his efforts are crowned with success, he enjoys 
the struggle and is filled with the hope of achievement. All tasks should be 
graduated to the child's strength and environment, otherwise the impetus 
toward effort is lost, and discouragement and despair will take the place of faith 
and hope. 

The burning lamp in the picture suggests the mother's love. An adjoining 
picture shows the poppy plant from which the oil is stamped and the mill for 
stamping it. This indicates the labor of both the mother and others in the care 
of the child, and with the words of the song about the child's own limbs grow- 
ing strong enough to finally stamp out the oil himself, contains the first present- 
ment of his answering gratitude to his mother and future duty and responsibility 
toward her. 

In a third picture there is shown a woman climbing a steep hill with a 
heavy burden on her back. The mother, who has brought her older children to 
play in the stream which turns the mill near by, points this woman out as 
another mother providing for her child. The children themselves are in their 



128 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

play showing the mother that each has a separate individuality. One child has 
a practical turn of mind and utilizes the water's force to turn his small wheel. 
Another boy sits thoughtfully by and watches this operation. He will be philo- 
sophical and spend his time studying out the '' why and wherefore " of life. The 
little girl, taking off her shoes and stockings, wades fearlessly into the stream. 
She goes direct to her purpose. Each child will work out his life in his own 
peculiar way, and the mother, as she watches them, finds food for thought, both 
for the daily training of each character and for the choosing of a vocation for 
each. This wise mother will not allow a false standard of appearances to influ- 
ence the child's calling, and Johnny, who has a mechanical genius, will never be 
forced to become an unwilling merchant. 

The Falling Game. — The next play in this group is entitled, '' Ah ! there 
falls my baby down." This game is the familiar one of allowing the child to fall 
a short distance to a soft pillow, by taking the supporting hand away from his 
back, tossing him up in the air and catching him as he descends, or encouraging 
a jump from shelf or table. The child's system* thus receives a slight shock, 
and he' is impressed with the idea that danger might come from a real fall. 
" The Play of the Limbs " indicates conscious life expressing itself through 
activity, while " The Falling Game " denotes these activities directed toward 
self-preservation, one of the basal instincts of humanity. Control of the move- 
ments of the body leads to self-control on a higher plane. A marked indefinite- 
ness of movement on the part of an adult is a sure sign of deficient mentality. 

If the child falls through carelessness, he must learn to pay more heed to 
the motions of his feet and body. If he drops a delicate article and it breaks^ 
he discovers that increased possessions demand added responsibility and negli- 
gence must take the consequences of its own acts. Through this play the child 
gets presentment of law governing the Universe and that obedience to law gives 
the greatest liberty. Nature never changes her laws. If the child falls, he 
must pick himself up and make a better adjustment to circumstances next time. 
If he touches fire, it burns him and burns serenely on. If he indulges a capri- 
cious appetite, pain is the reminder that he has disobeyed. 

The child will have many falls through life, some through carelessness and 
heedlessness, others through untruthfulness and disobedience. His mother can 
never guard him so carefully but that he will have both physical and spiritual falls. 
She can only strengthen him and show him how to adapt himself to natural laws 
and his environments and be a law unto himself. To pick up a child when he falls 
and soothe and cry over him, to be too anxious about his welfare, to be foolishly 
fond of him, to live/^r and not with him and to shield him from every tempta- 
tion, is to deaden the germs of self-control, judgment and caution. In " The 
Falling Game " Froebel intends that the mother shall begin early ta cultivate the 
germ of ^' standing alone." He would have her decide in every act whether she 
is giving a capricious command or enunciating a universal law, and then, if in 
ordinary circumstances and according to his strength, the child falls, he must 
take the consequences. This is not cruelty but love, for if the mother shields 
him, she is obeying the law for him and not he, and she only weakens him for 



DIE MUTTER UND KOSELIEDER. 129 

contact with the world where she cannot shield him. Universal law a child sees 
and accepts as reasonable. 

"It is not necessary," says Dr. Parkhurst, "that authority should be put 
before the child in a manner calculated to irritate and offend. Authority is as 
strong a friend if yielded to, as it is bitter as an enemy when resisted. Every- 
thing in nature obeys. Everything in art obeys. Only man mutinies, and his 
mutiny is his misery — always has been since the first Adam mutinied and al- 
ways will be till the last Adam ceases to mutiny. In whatever direction we 
look and whatever improvement in existing conditions we seek to effect, we 
come back to it again and again, that the end is determined by the beginning 
and that the foundations of all public betterment have to be laid in the chil- 
dren." 

This play also typifies spiritual mnion with father and mother, and through 
them with God. The father stands for law, the mother for love. Law, order 
and harmony must prevail in the home, otherwise the child's first standard is 
broken. When the child plays at falling, he laughs and is full of glee, for he 
has a feeling of trust that his mother will guard him from danger. In the 
same way, in spite of discouragements, the human being can never fall if he 
trust in God and obey His laws. Back of all and through all is love, which 
recognizes each effort the child makes in right doing and, if he falls, encourages 
him to rise and be stronger next time. " Nothing is fatal but discouragement." 

" When first the child begins to imitate, 
Do not the little effort underrate ; 
Do thou the same — it will the more delight him, 
And even to renewed attempts invite him." 

The Weather-vane. — Physically imitating the movement of the weather- 
vane gives excellent training to the hand and arm. Any play that will develop 
a self-reliant use of his limbs is of benefit to the child. But the main thought 
of the play is to early bring the child into sympathetic relations with one of the 
great forces of nature. 

" Who can see the wind.'' 
Neither you nor I ; 
But when the leaves hang trembling, 
The wind is passing by." 

The child looks upon the vane moving and asks why it moves. He is told that 
it is the wind and that God made the wind. Having seen the effect he is 
gratified to know the cause, and his thought is led to God, the first great Cause. 
Then he sees that the wind blows his kite, makes the leaves tremble and the 
trees bow their heads. It waves the grass and moves the clouds and sail-boats. 
The child first sees the world as chaos. The diversity created by the force of 
the wind he finds to be the result of one cause and so he discovers unity. 
What the child imitates he is trying to understand. He wants to " test the 
force by which things go." The play of " The Weather-vane " is a type of all the 



130 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

unseen causes which produce a visible effect in our lives. Olher examples may 
be found in gravitation, solar and magnetic forces, the growth of the plant 
from the seed, of the chicken from the tggy or the motion of a river. Here is 
Froebel's use of the symbolism of material things. The law of life is from 
within, invisible, and so the child's desire to know natural causes is turned to a 
desire to know spiritual truths. 

" All's Gone." — After the child has had his supper, he looks down and is 
surprised to find that his bowl is empty. Then his mother says : — 

Gone, gone, my child, all gone — 
The supper now is gone ; 

Baby is not now without it ; 
Little mouth knows all about it, 
Little tongue hath in it dipped, 
Down the little throat it slipped. 

Now it makes my baby gay 

Full of frolic, full of play ; " 

Now with health' my child shall beam, 

Red and white like rose and cream. 

" The Weather-vane " illustrates the visible effect of an invisible cause, 
while "All's Gone" shows the invisible effect of a visible cause. It teaches 
the thought of a resurrection : 

" There is no death, 

What seems so is transition." 

\ 
Nothing in Nature is lost ; it only disappears to reappear again in new form. 

Decay on one plane ministers to life on another. Every stage of development 
involves death or sacrifice in the preceding. The child looks into the bird's 
nest to count the eggs and lo, the nest is empty ! " But," says the mother, 
" the eggs are not destroyed. Look at yonder birds ! See, how fast and free 
they fly ! Did not their songs of praise waken you this morning?" In the 
Autumn the leaves die and fall to the ground and the earth seems barren and 
covered with rubbish, but in the Spring these things are purified into new life, 
and leaves and flowers take the place of dry branches. " ' I wonder what be- 
comes of the frog when he climbs up out of this world, and disappears, so we 
do not see even his shadow, till plop ! he is among us again when we least expect 
him. Does anybody know where he goes to ? Tell me somebody, pray ! ' 
Thus chattered the grub of a Dragon-fly as he darted in and out among the 
plants at the bottom of the water." * 

Nothing is lost except through neglect. Neglected opportunities are real 
losses ; apparent losses are often blessings in disguise. Every step of develop- 
ment represents an apparent loss. Froebel teaches a sense of responsibility in 
this play. The little girl finds her bird cage empty because she neglected to close 
the door. Her little plant is forgotten and, therefore, droops and dies. Care 



* Mrs. Gatty's Parables from Nature. 



DIE MUTTER UND KOSELIEDER. 131 

and perseverance are needed. Possessions too easily obtained are often not 
appreciated. In the " Little Gardener," Froebel says in this connection to the 
mother, advising the care of plants and pets for children : — 

" Would'st thou the mind of the child for the cares of life unfold ? 
Let him observe the life-cares here enrolled. 
Would'st thou for cares of inward life prepare him .'' 
Make sweet to him the life-cares that are near him." 

In the songs relating to smell and taste Froebel shows the importance of 
the cultivation of the senses as organs of the mind and not as ministers for the 
gratification of the body. Every part of the human organism is intended to 
serve a good and lawful purpose, and it should be the mother's object to assist 
her child toward a right use of his powers and thus convert every energy to 
good. The child's clothing may be such as to hinder his growth and spoil 
his temper. If he never shares his food with others, if it is made too pleasant 
to the palate and too much attention is paid to eating, the seeds of gluttony are 
planted. Irregularity in eating and sleeping prevents self-control and punctu- 
ality. A bed too soft induces indolence and does not beget a hardy endurance. 
Everything about the child either helps or hinders its development. There 
can be no mean. 

Notice the connection between taste as a physical sense and taste as a 
sense of beauty ! Elizabeth Harrison's Study of CJiild Nature has excellent and 
practical thoughts on the senses of taste and smell. 

" TiCK-TAck." — The " Tick-Tack " song is the last one belonging to the first 
group : 

" Who would find the prosperous way, 
The laws of order must obey ; 

Who would win a happy fate, 
Must learn his time to regulate. 

He whom this practice shall annoy. 

Will be bereft of many a joy. 
Then teach the child to value order, time, 
For these are priceless gifts in every clime." 

We shall not have space to take up this play in detail. It embodies many of 
the thoughts contained in former plays. It shows rhythm as the basis of order 
and harmony on the earth and in life. This seeking for rhythm is an early man- 
ifestation of the child which the mother meets when she rocks him and sings to 
him. Rhythm is the basis of the solar system and the sub-divisions of time. 
Pendulum beats are the rhythmic measurements of time. These measurements 
depend upon mathematical laws, which are equally fundamental in the works 
of God and the labors of man. To understand the clock the child must learn 
to count. Truth, exactness and order are necessary to character. 

The Second Group. — The second group in Miss Brooks' classification 
based upon unity relates to unity in home and family life, and is illustrated by 
these plays : 



132 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

Thumbs and Fingers. 

This little Thumb is one. "^^ 

This is Che Mother. 

This little Thumb. 

Grandmother and Mother. 

Brothers and Sisters. 

Finger Piano. 

Flower Basket (father's birthday). 

Hide and Seek (literal separation). 

The Coo-coo (spiritual separation and reunion). 

These plays meet the child's awakening sense of his relationship to the 
mother and the home family. They contain the duties of parents to children, of 
children to parents, the relations of grandparents, the connection of the home 
with society at large, and presuppose, as a foundation, the right formation of 
the home. The first relationship begins with the mother, and from her leads out 
to father, brothers and sisters, grandparents and into the world beyond. 

The mother, by a wise love and sympathy, makes herself the center of her 
child's life. To her he comes with his joys arid sorrows, sure of her never- 
failing interest. 

" ' The Lord cannot be everywhere, so He made mothers.' This statement^ 
attributed to a Jewish rabbi, although it be poetic rather than scientific in terms, 
conveys to us the scope of the mother's calling. She stands in very truth the 
handmaid of the Lord, called to His holy of holies, to work out His law of 
creation." 

If the mother, as her child grows older, finds that she no longer possesses 
his confidence and he reveals himself to others instead of seeking her advice 
and commendation, she must look for the cause back to early childhood, when 
she hushed his eager prattle because she was ''too busy to be bothered." 
Common politeness compels us to listen to an older person, but we allow per- 
sonal convenience to rule with the child, thereby wounding his feelings and 
lessening his respect. Children are excellent judges of character and are quick 
to determine whether the motive back of an answer be a good or a selfish one. 
The normal child is predisposed to be grateful, reverent and confiding, but 
whether these qualities will grow or be perverted greatly depends upon early 
training and the ideals presented for his imitation. It is life itself and his 
effort to adjust himself to its increasing power that is the cause of his ceaseless 
questionings. The child has a right to be answered. Though it be a trying 
task to answer a thousand questions a day, have patience and the reward 
will come in due time — indeed, it is even then present. If the mother possesses 
her child's confidence, he cannot go far astray and in this close life of mother 
and child an immortal soul is being developed. 

* Now stiffen your chubby round legs, dear, 
And stand up straight in my lap ; 
I hold you now — ere many moons 
You'll stand alone, mayhap. 



* From Miss Blow's Mottoes and Coimnentaries. 



DIE MUTTER UND KOSELIEDER. 133 

But your life will still lean on mine, dear, 

For a mother and child must be 
Drawn together through all their lives. 

As the constant moon draws the sea. 

Drawn together though long miles should part. 

Together, even as now, 
While 1 fold you close to my loving heart, 

And press a kiss on your brow. 

The first plays of this second group teach the naming and counting of the 
fingers. Froebel says of " This Little Thumb " : 

Teach the child about his fingers, 

How to name them one by one, 
Above all teach him how to use them ; 

Thus are many pleasures won. 

Besides naming the fingers, we have comparisons as to their relative uses 
and strength. The picture accompanying the motto has three divisions. The 
largest one symbolizes the hands, the right one being considered as masculine, 
the left as feminine. The interpretation is, strength in union, harmony in the 
home circle, society and state. It also shows each act in the individual to be the 
result of thought and feeling ; hence the necessity of cultivating the heart as 
well as the head. In the last two lines of the song, Froebel says : 

And though these little gifts have each a part to fill, 
They're all together bound and governed by one will. 

A smaller cut depicts the mother holding her youngest child on her arm 
and teaching it this little game. Two other children sit near by, each busily at 
work. Calling the little one's attention to these older children, the mother 
tells him that he, too, may learn to use his fingers as well as they. A third pic- 
ture shows a boy climbing a tree, one girl planting a flower and another one 
bringing water for its care. Here is increased strength, added power for action 
and usefulness. 

This play, together with " This Little Thumb is One," includes the whole 
subject of industry as a necessary factor in a happy life and the need of culti- 
vating the hand, man's most useful servant, in early childhood. For further 
explanation of this subject, the reader is referred to the paper on the occupa- 
tions on page loi. 

Purity Based upon Knowledge. — The fundamental thought of *' Thumbs 
and Fingers " relates to delicate and indelicate action touching the mysteries of 
life. The first steps of sin are oftenest taken in ignorance. The remedy is 
positive, not negative, teaching healthful occupation and a realization of the 
true principle of life, showing this to the child as much as possible in the varied 
aspects of Nature. Parents should answer their children's questions truthfully 
and be themselves the first to put a right construction upon all necessary infor- 
mation, not allowing it to come to the child through less careful sources. Here 
the necessity of a mother's possessing her child's confidence is most clearly 



134 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

seen. Mothers would do well to co-operate in suppressing sensational adver- 
tising pictures. As an emblem of life in its utmost purity, tEe lily is taken. 
Without this beautiful flower, says Froebel, no garden is complete. 

In the " Grandmother and Mother," '' This is the Mother," and "Brothers 
and Sisters," we — 

Behold the good family, great and small, 
Who with thoughtful care and one in will, 
"Work well and true joy's cup to fill. 

When teaching the child about the family as a whole through these finger 
plays we are laymg the best foundation for unity in the child's future life. " A 
house divided against itself cannot stand." Unity in the home is the surest 
preparation for unity in church and state. If there be discord in the child's 
first social community, what standards for social relations has he to fall back 
upon in later life ? The family life is the first step in the solution of all social 
problems. The Salvation Army, the Social Settlements and Young Women's 
Christian Associations are all working for a loftier home ideal, while the Kin- 
dergartens and schools are asking for co-operation. In the higher walks of 
life thoughtlessness and indulgence are the main factors to be considered. 

The race's long period of infancy led to the foundation of the family. 
Upon the child's right relations in the family and the impressions of life there 
imprinted are his future estimates of social and religious institutions founded. 
Love of humanity and of God springs from love of kindred, and " it is only the 
sacred fire on the altar of home that can kindle this holy flame in the child's 
heart." 

In these plays the child's imagination is stirred by pictures of love, gratitude 
and service, and he gets his ideas of ideal childhood and of his own duties in 
the home. The sacredness of the home is portrayed by showing the various 
families in Nature. In the picture of the " Grandmother and Mother " we have 
first the human family, and grouped about it, earth, air, and water families. The 
child sees himself mirrored in the relations of his parents to his grandparents, 
wh.ile the parents see their own relation to their child in the relations of grand- 
parents to them. This number, five, seen in the two grandparents, the two 
parents and the child, Froebel considers of some significance and looks for it in 
five-petaled flowers and the seed kernels of certain fruits. 

*' Brothers and Sisters," denotes repose and the watchful care of the mother 
and of God. 

The " Finger Piano " refers to the value of counting and numbers, and in 
this case especially to the controlling of time and the foundation of music. 
Froebel would have us commence early to cultivate singing and train the ear to 
fine distinctions of time. He points to this as one of the elements of inner har- 
mony, and says : " How important it is early to plant the germ of both inner 
and outward harmony in every child ! Learning to hear it within, the child 
will strive to give it outer form and expression ; even if in such effort he is only 
partially successful, he will gain thereby the power to appreciate the more sue- 



DIE MUTTER UND KOSELIEDER. 135 

cessful efforts of others. Thus enriching his own life by the life of others, he 
solves the problem of development." Another thought is, the importance of the 
present hour and the impossibility of thoroughly repairing lost opportunities. 

In the ** Flower-basket," the child is represented as gathering flowers for 
his father's birthday. The cementing of family relationships is the basal idea 
of this play. Love expressing itself in action grows with the doing. In his 
motto to the mother, Froebel says : 

Keep the loving interest warm. 
Before the mind forgets. 

It is a very poor love that does not express itself through self-sacrifice and 
helpful acts to the one beloved, and every act, instead of decreasing the store^ 
increases the capacity for loving. It is the parable of the talents over again,, 
for the one who buries his talent loses " that which he hath," just as the heart 
which does not express itself in loving deeds grows hard, cold and selfish. The 
mother says : '' This is your father's birthday. We will do all we can to make 
the day pleasant for him, because we love him and he does so many kind things 
for us." So the children hasten to gather flowers and make themselves clean 
and sweet to celebrate the anniversary. When the father sees their happy faces 
as they cluster around him, he says : " We will thank the Heavenly Father for 
this pleasant home and loving mother and children." 

The next play, " Hide and Seek," is Froebel's version of the universal play 
of " Peek-a-boo," the inner meaning of which is, separation for the joy of re- 
union and the arousing of personality. By this separation the child realizes his 
dependence upon his mother, through contrast, that important factor in all edu- 
cation, but if she does not show joy upon his return or allows him to remain so 
long hidden that the dependence is broken and he learns to love hiding for its own 
sake, confidence is broken and he is taking the first steps in falsehood and de- 
ceit. 

t 

The aim, the goal, is union sweet ; 

We separate, only again to meet. 

Learn, mother, to apply this law so true ; 

Child-tending then will Heaven's joy bring to you. 

Other games involving separation and return are " Falling, falling," and the 
" Pigeon House." The answer to developing consciousness is the need met in 
this play. Developing consciousness is the basis of desire for change, travel 
and adventure. It also lies at the foundation of the child's assertion of his own 
will and his idea of freedom. It is a critical time for the mother when the child 
is first conscious of a fault, for then his conscience is awakened. If she pos- 
sesses his confidence, he will not think of hiding from her. But she must be: 
careful to do justice in the matter of correction, always impressing the inevi- 
tableness of punishment. As far as possible let it be the same as his elders 
suffer, the natural consequence of his own deeds. 

The child's attention to his mother's call, thus strengthening the call of con- 
science by obeying it, Froebel exemplifies in the " Coo-coo " game. This song 



136 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

is a development of "Hide and Seek." The child hides, and while hidden calls 
•out " Coo-coo! " to his mother who is searching for him. There may be separa- 
tion and still union, while in union there is also individual character, each answer- 
ing to his own call of conscience. Says Miss Blow : " Though visible presence 
be removed, there is constant communication. The cry of the heart has become 
articulate and the child learns with glad surprise that the unseen need, not be 
the unknown, unheard or unfelt. All life is transition. Froebel has traced the 
baby's progress from the moment when, through the typical experience illus- 
trated in the ' Falling ' game, he learns his physical distinctness from his mother, 
to the day when in the cuckoo call he gives sign of his presentiment of spiritual 
identity." * 

If the mother has accustomed her child to be obedient to her call, if she 
'does not require tasks too great for him, or such as violate his own peculiar in- 
dividuality, he will learn to love the call of conscience, and later in life, when 
his personality is necessarily separate from his mother's, he will be able to obey 
the voice of reason instead of yielding to personal inclination. 

The Third Group. — The third group in Miss Brooks' classification shows 
the child in sympathetic relations with the lower animals and is exemplified in 
these plays; 

Beckon to Chickens. Bird's Nest. 

Beckon to Pigeons. Pigeon House. 

Fishes. Barnyard Gate. 

It is said that the play " Beckon to Chickens " was the origin of the Mother- 
flay. One day when walking in the country Froebel met a young woman 
carrying a child in her arms. Coming to a poultry yard, the mother told her 
child to "beckon to the chickens." Froebel was impressed with the signifi- 
cance of the game, and, upon reaching home, wrote out this play and tried it in 
a family of his acquaintance. From this grew the collection we now have. 

Every vigorous, healthy child is attracted by the life of Nature about him, 
for in it he sees his own life mirrored. Through these plays the child is mak- 
ing the beginning of a sympathetic understanding of Nature. They form the 
best possible preparation for the future care of plants and pet animals. The 
care of plants and animals teaches toleration, kindliness and responsibility. In- 
terest is developed and a foundation is laid for systematic observation and 
scientific study. The child comes to realize the beauty and order of the Universe, 
each thing in its right place and doing its appointed work. Through this won- 
derful order harmony reigns. This knowledge is a hint for inner peace and 
right living with fellow-men. 

In recognizing the dependence of animal and plant upon him, the answer- 
ing love the animal shows and the growth and blossom of the plant as a reward 
for his effort, the child gains his first perception of the meaning of gratitude. 
We only know what we have experienced. The child cannot experience grati- 
tude from merely telling him that he ought to be grateful. He must first have 



* From Knighthood a Syvtbol of Moral Power. 



DIE MUTTER UND KOSELIEDER. 137 

the care of some living thing and feel what that care involves. In protecting 
his pet animal, the child imbibes a feeling of good will toward all helpless and 
defenseless things, which engenders kindliness toward human beings less for- 
tunate than himself and a toleration for human failings. Through his home 
life and his care of animals and plants, the child is early placed in relation- 
ship with his superiors, his equals and with persons and things beneath him. 
These are all the relationships of life. They contain the duties of man. Froe- 
bel would have us place the child in these relationships and make his duties, 
*' definite and inexorable." 

The " Bird's Nest " play is a type of home, of unselfish devotion and pa- 
rental love. It also shows God's watchful care and wisdom. Who taught each 
kind of bird to build its nest away from danger and near to its own special kind 
of food ? Why are the little ones hatched in the Spring? They stay comfort- 
ably and quietly in the nest when both the father and the mother bird are away 
in search of food, for the Heavenly Father keeps them and His sunlight warms 
the nest. So the child must learn not to fret when his mother is away, for she 
keeps him in her thoughts wherever she may be. 

The "Pigeon House" is anoti er phase of separation. It portrays the 
desire to go out into the world and the joy of reunion because of loving wel- 
come home. Every individual needs a home and country to which he is bound 
by bonds of love, and also needs to go away from them in order to learn to appre- 
ciate the strength of these ties. Outside experience is required to cultivate 
self-reliance and independence. Within the limits of right and wrong the child 
must be allowed scope for his free choice, otherwise individuality cannot be 
developed. By relying too much upon the assistance and prudence of others 
he falls into danger when left to depend upon himself, because he is confused 
and undecided. To the mother Froebel says : 

What to the child gives inward joy, 

He loves to represent in play. 

The dove flies away from his little home ; 

The child through the green fields loves to roam. 

The little dove comes back at night ; 

The child, too, keeps his home in sight. 

Then all the life and all the play 

That filled the long and happy day, 

All he has found, all he has seen, 

He loves at home to tell again ; 

And all these joys, together bound, 

Now in a varied wreath are wound. 

Another interesting song in this group is the "Fishes." No one who has 
watched a child peer into a globe of gold fishes or gaze from a bridge into the 
brook below will doubt the potency of the attraction he feels. Froebel says 
that birds and fishes attract children because of the purity of their native 
environment and the ease and freedom with which they move in it. " Clear- 
ness and freedom, purity and unhindered self-activity, these," he says, " are 
the conditions of life in which the child is happy and in which he is strength- 



138 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

ened and developed. Let the child find this delight in the pure and free 
early and thus lay the foundation of his moral development." ~~" 

The child tries to grasp the fish because he wants to make its freedom his 
own. In like manner older people are attracted to persons who possess the 
qualities they w^ish to emulate. There is also a lesson of individuality to be 
learned from the fish. If caught, its free and graceful motion is lost. Out of 
its element it is not itself and then no longer attracts the child. Each one is 
doing his noblest when he is doing his own peculiar work. Every individual^ 
even the humblest, has a work which no one but himself can do. Let no man 
be ashamed of his work ! If well done, the highest is no more worthy of honor. 

There is also a moral lesson in the straight and crooked movements of the 
fishes. This is shown, in the picture illustrating the song, in the movements of 
the fishes themselves, the winding of the brook, the straight and gnarled 
branches of the trees and the coil of the serpent. We may trace the analysis 
in straight and crooked lines, straight and crooked motions, straight and 
crooked deeds. One writer says : '' Words stand for physical facts which 
find parallels on spiritual planes. The fish may be more beautiful when its 
motion is crooked than when it is straight, but crooked and straight applied to 
deeds have a fixed and unvarying significance, and the child can learn that 
' crooked deeds ' are never beautiful, ' crooked thoughts ' never true. Early in 
life he can find the symbol in the fact and learn to transfer from the realm 
of things to the realm of thought the experiences he has gathered." 

The Fourth Group. — The fourth group, showing the child in unity with, 
self and others through the industries, embodies these plays : 

Grass Mowing. 

Charcoal Burner. 

Baker. 

Wheelwright. 

Joiner. 

Carpenter. 

Target. 



Through commerce : 



Tovman. 



These are called the labor plays. Their burden is unity, interchange of 
labor, interdependence and gratitude. The child sees himself as a part of 
humanity arid is inspired to do his share in the service of life. Selfishness is 
counteracted by seeing all people about him doing something for others. 

Hasten to the meadow, Peter ! 
Mow the grass — what can be sweeter ? 
Bring us home the fragrant fodder 
For the cow, for milk and butter. 
Cow is in the barnyard straying ; 
Milk her now without delaying. 
Cow the good rich milk is giving — 
Milk and bread are baby's living. 



DIE MUTTER UND KOSELIEDER. 139 

Let us grateful be for labors, 
Bringing us so many favors. 

Hasten to the meadow, Peter ! 
Mow the grass — what can be sweeter ! 
Thank thee, Peter, for the mowing ! 
Thank thee, cow, the milk bestowing ! 
For the milking, thank our Molly; 
Baker, for the rolls so jolly ; 
For the supper, thank mamma — 
So no thanks forgotten are. 

When the child has his supper and, perhaps, plays first the game of "All's 
Gone," the mother tells him of how Molly milked the cow, Peter mowed 
the grass for the cow to eat, the farmer sowed the seed and the Heavenly 
Father's sun and rain made the grass grow — all that Baby might have milk for 
his supper to change into good rich blood and help him to become strong and 
healthy. Here the child sees cause and effect, one phase of the law of unity. 
This linking together of connected events in a related chain is the basis of 
many pleasing stories for children. A familiar illustration is "The House that 
Jack Built." The moral and spiritual value of the play lies in the idea of 
dependence upon other people and upon the Heavenly Father. Froebel 
wishes to foster this idea of giving and taking services as a means of showing 
the child his loving relationship to everything about him and to help him realize 
the universal brotherhood of man. A child's apparent lack of gratitude is 
often due to the fact that he does not know the sacrifice and trouble back of 
the things which come to him so easily. Many an older person is apt to forget 
that there is anything wonderful in the common blessings of everyday life until 
aroused by some untoward event which breaks the chain of necessary co-opera- 
tion. When visiting food markets or house-furnishing shops, interest the child 
in the number of hands that have been at work and in the states and countries 
represented. Outside of the moral lesson, this would awaken a zest for the 
study of geography. Do not emulate a mother who in a recent visit to one of 
the large stores replied to her child's inquiry as to the use of the overhead 
mechanism for making payments and change : " I don't know what it is for 
unless it is to make little boys ask questions." 

It is also a wise plan to allow each child to take some definite share in the 
household affairs. These plays give the key to a better adjustment of social 
problems. The strife between labor and capital is largely a matter of false 
standards and lack of brotherly love. Manual and mental labor are no longer 
distinct but are growing more and more each to need the other. Industrial 
pursuits demand intellectual training and science needs the hand to execute its 
bidding. The perfectly healthy person is he who exercises body, mind and 
spirit. Says the Baroness Marenholtz : " One of the most effectual means of 
calling the ideal side of human nature into play is early artistic culture." 

Again, children should not acquire the idea from their daily surroundings 
that worldly gain and prosperity are the end and aim of existence, but be led to 



140 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

see that added wealth should mean added culture, responsibility and morality. 
High position involves a greater circle of influence and, therefore, the example 
set should be worthy of emulation, instead of showing, as it too often does, 
weakness, indulgence and loose morality. 

Froebel's " Charcoal Burner " teaches that even the roughest work, if 
faithfully performed, commands respect. 

In the " Baker," the nursery " Pat-a-cake," we have another illustration of 
cause and effect, unity. The admonition to the child to bring his cake before 
the oven gets cold, inculcates punctuality and readiness in each doing his part. 

The " Carpenter" again teaches unity, the seemingly unrelated things 
brought together to make a useful whole, a sheltering home for the child. 

The " Wheelwright" repeats the impression of the benefits of skilled labor 
as shown in the wheel and its important use in our present civilization. The 
pictures accompanying the song show the wheel from the child's playthmg up 
to the chariots of the gods. 

The " Target" relates to form, size and number, the qualities of objects 
and " points to the intellectual mastery of all objects in time and space." 

The " Toyman" pictures commerce and introduces the child to his relation- 
ships with others through trade. The toyshops show the products of human 
toil provided to meet human needs. What the child chooses may be an indica- 
tion of his tastes, what he desires to imitate. What a child imitates he is trying 
to understand. His imitations are keys to his inclinations. Of the *' Toyman " 
the Baroness says : " It is a bad plan to encourage children to expect that 
whenever they are taken into a shop something will be bought for them ; greed 
of possession is apt to be awakened in them in this manner. They should be 
allowed to look around and admire all the various products of human art and 
industry, and, if anything falls to their share, there should be pointed out to 
them in reference to it how many different pairs of hands and what a variety 
of industrial machinery must have been called into play for its production, and 
how all human labors fit into each other and combine to produce the requisites 
of material existence. Every object which calls forth their admiration may be 
made the occasion of representing the different labors of human beings one 
for another as so many signs of mutual love. This, at any rate, is the ideal side 
of commerce. With this idea is associated the duty of preparing the child 
to take, one day, its own share in the common work." 

The Fifth Group — The fifth group, showing the child in unity with others 
because of right doing, is exemplified in these plays: 

Children at the tower. 
Knights and good child. 
Knights and bad child. 
Hide thee, child ! 

With these plays we come to a more advanced stage of development. The 
lessons conveyed in the former plays have been mainly accidental. The child 
has pictured them to himself, but now the "ought" and "must" are plainly 



DIE MUTTER UND KOSELIEDER. 141 

discerned. Here is direct moral training in the appeal to good motives and 
the mastery of the will. Moral training is necessarily a training of the will to 
choose the right. The earlier plays are based on the child's desire to investi- 
gate the life around him, but this group and the one following it are founded 
upon an expression of the inner life. 

The " Children at the Tower " is a review of all the other plays, and is to 
the child a history of himself. Here two families are represented as visiting 
each other, and while the elders are chatting together the little ones are play- 
ing the games already learned. Here the hint to the child is his own rriental 
and moral growth. 

Of the next play, " The Knights come to see the Good Child," the song 
says : 

Five knights I see riding at a rapid pace, 

Within the court their steps I trace. 

" What would ye now, fair knights, with me ?" 

" We wish thy precious child to see ; 

They say he is like the dove so good, 

And like the lamb of merry mood ; 

Then wilt thou kindly let us meet him, 

That tenderly our hearts may greet him ? '* 

" Now the precious child behold ! " 

" Well he merits love untold. 

Child, we give thee greetings rare, 

This will sweeten mother's care, 

Worth much love the good child is ; 

Peace and joy are ever his. 

Now will we no longer tarry, 

Joy unto our homes we'll carry." 

This play is the symbol of right and wrong. The good is made attractive 
and the child is loved for what he is or may become and not for what he seems 
to be. It is a matter of character and not of reputation. The knights stand for 
goodness on the side of what is right and true. In early times knights were 
pure and noble. They promised helpfulness and love, were brave, courteous, 
obedient, ready to serve those weaker and smaller than themselves and were 
sworn to protect women and children. Those who entered the service were 
trained to it from early childhood. 

If the child will be worthy of the knights' good opinion, he must choose 
between the good and evil. Beauty and position are not to be considered. 
Only real worth can win their praises. Outward appearance solely, as a standard 
of living, is the origin of much folly and crime. " The whole problem of the 
development of humanity consists in passing from semblance to reality." 

This is the verse for the knights and the ill-humored child : 

Five knights I see riding at a rapid pace, 

Within the courtyard their steps I trace. 

" What would ye now, fair knights, with me ."* " 

" We wish thy precious child to see." 

"Ah, friendly knights, I grieve to say 



142 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

I cannot bring him to you to-day. 
He cries, is so morose and cross, 
That all too small we find the house." 
" Oh, such tidings give us pain, 
No longer we sing a joyful strain ; 
We'll ride away, we'll ride afar. 
Where all the good little children are." 

In this play the mother is sorrowful, but allows her child to endure the con- 
sequences of right and wrong as shown through the approval and disapproval of 
the knights. The knights love the good and turn away from the wrong. The 
child becomes conscious that if he is ill humored he will no longer be sought by 
the knights — for the good affiliate with their own kind — and miust suffer separa- 
tion from them. 

In the third play the child is again good and now the mother, knights and 
child all play together. 

The Sixth Group. — The sixth group shows the inner-uniting life, and is 
illustrated by these plays : 

Light bird, 

Little window. 

Rabbit on the wall. 

Wolf songs. 

Boy and Moon. 

Girl and stars. 

Little child drawing. 

Church door and window over it. 

This last group of Mother-play songs deals with shadow pictures and the 
transforming power of light to symbolize the inner or spiritual life. Everything 
is made use of to convey to the child a sense of the union of all things and thus 
lead from the visible to the invisible world and the Divine Power ruling all. 
The aim of the light songs is to cultivate all that is high and noble in the child 
and to show him that the purest joys of life are in things higher than the mate- 
rial world. 

" The Little Boy and the Moon " has its lesson for the mother. In telling 
the child about the heavenly bodies, suit the explanation to his understanding, 
but make it a truthful one. Through his interest and wonder in natural phe- 
nomena we may lead him to an apprehension of God. 

The " Light Bird" symbolizes truth. Deeds done in the light are deeds of 
goodness and love, but those done under the cover of darkness are evil and 
wicked. It also teaches that we cannot always obtain possession of all that 
pleases us. We may spend our lives in pursuing illusive pleasures without gain- 
ing anything soul-satisfying. If we w^ant true draughts of happiness, wx must 
go to the never-failing fountain. Discrimination is necessary to distinguish 
between gold and dross. Froebel here points to the eye as connected with 
spiritual insight. The Bible tells us : " If thine eye be single, the whole body is 
full of light." 

The thought of the " Rabbit " is the sun's light bringing color and form 



DIE MUTTER UND KOSELIEDER. 143 

out of darkness as the inner life and peace beautify the countenance. Our 
darkest experience will work for good, or make us better able to help others, if 
we but accept the lesson intended and keep the light of God shining in our 
hearts. Only darkness within can produce darkness without. 

The " Wolf songs " say : " Keep the imagination pure." 

The " Window songs " picture the influx of light, increasing as the spiritual 
eye is able to bear the full blaze of truth. 

"The aim of the 'Shadow Plays,'" says Miss Blow's free translation, "is 
to suggest how we may avoid awakening the child's lower instincts." Of the 
child who has broken a pane of glass it says : " Sometimes we are like this lit- 
tle boy ; we do something which keeps light from getting into our hearts. 
Then what a sad time we have in the dark and how much trouble we have to 
take before we can get the light again ! " 

" Like the child in the picture," continues the translation, " who has opened 
the door into the dark cellar, open all the doors and windows of your heart to 
the dear light ! Then everything within will be clear, and everything without 
will be fair. The world will be all beautiful to you, as it is to the little boy who 
stands in his mother's lap watching for the coming of the sun. 

" As symbolic of the soul's progress these songs move from perception of 
the light to ^aspiration towards it. This aspiration deepens into a conviction of 
relationship, and relationship completes itself in inward identification. In- 
dwelling light then manifests itself in outward act, and life becomes luminous 
and transparent." 

In Conclusion. — At a first reading the Mother-play may seem trifling and 
absurd, but to the student who really tries to get at its meaning it offers valu- 
able information in child training. Froebel begins at the beginning and intends 
that the mother shall really and intelligently commence to train her child as 
soon as it is born, "The reason he lays so much stress on this is because impres- 
sions begin at and even before birth. We cannot say how or when these impres- 
sions begin, but that impressions are there is proved by the fact that every 
human being, even the baby of six months, is the result of his past experience. 
The little baby has no capacity for giving out but a great capacity for absorbing 
the atmosphere in which it lives. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that 
his surroundings shall in every way be pure and helpful to his development. 
His physical conditions of proper food, exercise, rest and bodily care should be 
such as will conduce to healthy growth. In doing this a happy medium must 
be maintained between over exercise and insufficient development. His moral 
nature is also influenced by the character of his surroundings. Equally with an 
older person, is he made happy by a bright, clean, orderly room and the com- 
panionship of joyous, wholesome people, or depressed by uncomfortable, dingy 
surroundings and dejected by sad, morbid or ill-natured persons. He re- 
sponds to the kindly tones, the friendly touch, the smiles and the affection as 
certainly as he does to the unrest and anger of those who handle him. 

In the beginning the child cries because he is uncomfortable, but under 
wrong training this may gradually lead out into self-will until he becomes the 



144 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

autocrat of the household, ruling his elders with despotic sway. Here, too, 
Froebel's philosophy gives us the key. His teaching is that if you ha^e reason 
to believe that the child is physically comfortable, leave him alone. He is 
simply crying to command attention. It is not advisable to handle the child 
and pass him from one to another every moment of his waking hours. He 
should be accustomed to kick and coo and play by himself. Constant change, 
which seems to be the order of the present age, lays the foundation for super- 
ficiality in character. 

The foundation of a religious life is laid in infancy. In this, too, Froebel's 
Mother-play tells us how to proceed. We are not to give direct teachings and 
doctrines to the child. Dry precepts have no meaning to him and are worse 
than useless. We are to impress him through the religious atmosphere of the 
home and the ideals there presented to him with the beauty of goodness. The 
mother's prayer by her child's bed, the peace and serenity filling her heart, the 
family commendations or criticisms of neighbors, all have their influence and 
help to form the child's standards of life. The spiritual nature develops with 
the physical and moral and the full development of the physical nature helps to 
a fuller growth of the moral and spiritual. We do not know when the child 
begins to understand God, but that he has an instinctive yearning after God 
is manifested in his questionings about the source of all things. 

The child shows his development to be analogous to that of the human 
race. Primitive natures feel the need of something higher than themselves to 
rest upon, so they worship the forces of Nature or set up graven images. 
Froebel follows the teachings of the Saviour and uses the symbolism of Nature 
to impart spiritual truths. Of Christ it is said : " Without a parable spake he 
not unto them." 

Finally, Froebel would have us give the child wholesome surroundings, knit 
the bond of sympathy with mother and the family, teach him to express love by 
activity, to carry the right standards into the larger world of brothers and sis- 
ters in mutual helpfulness and right living, to find the unity in Nature and so 
through gradual and at last complete influx of light, to be one with God. To 
the mother he gives this motto : — 

Believe that by the good that's in thy mind, 

Thy child to good will early be inclined ; 

By every noble thought with which thy heart is fired, 

Thy child's young soul will surely be inspired 

And canst thou any better gift bestow, 

Than union with the Eternal One to know? 

Although in each song may be found illustrations of the principles set down 
in the preceding paper on the study of the Mothe?'-play, we may say that the 
first group meets the child's early manifestations of motion and his observation 
of the unseen forces of Nature. The second group deals with the home life^ 
the expression of love in activity, and the importance of separation and reunion. 
The third group teaches love for the lower animals, develops spiritual and 



A DAY IN THE KINDERGARTEN. 145 

moral lessons, inculcates responsibility and uses observation as the basis of 

scientific study. The labor songs inculcate independence and a fitting standard 

for right social relationships. The songs of the knights set forth the beauty of 

goodness and the necessity of right motives. The "Light songs " use light as 

the symbol of God, the source of all life and movement. The transforming 

power of God's love on the human heart leads to union with Him. 

For further reading on Die Mutter und Koseliedej- see : 

Kindergaj'ten and Child Culture Papers^ by Henry Barnard, L.L. D. 

Mother-play and Nursery Songs, Josephine Jarvis' translation. 

Mottoes and Commentaries on Mother-play, by Susan E. Blow. 

Symbolic Education, by Susan E. Blow. 

Parables from Nature, by Mrs. Gatty. 

Kindergarten Magazine, Volumes 7 and 8. 

Kindergarten News, for 1894— 1895. 

z^ ■ 1 ^1 J o 1, J jr nr / r> ( bv Susau E. Blow, in the Kindergar- 

Kmghthood a Symbol of Moral Poiver, -{ _,^ ,-^ . r \ -i ia/t o 

^ -^ -' ^ I ten Magazine, for Aoril and May, 1895. 



FOURTEENTH PAPER. 

A DAY IN THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Having considered the occupations and gifts in full, it may be well to 
show how they are combined for a day's work in the Kindergarten. 

First of all, the room itself should be as large, light and airy as it is possi- 
ble to make it. It should have several windows, one or more of which admit 
full sunlight and are provided with suitable shades. These shades are best in 
yellow. There should be growing plants in the windows and shallow pans of 
earth may be brought in when seeds are to be planted. An aquarium is always 
an object of interest, but if it is a globe, it must have a large exposed surface of 
water and great care must be exercised or the fish will be likely to die. 
Bunches of wheat, other grains and grasses, shells, minerals and birds' nests 
are kept in cases where the children may handle them and thus learn to know 
and appreciate them. " That which one loves as a child will probably interest 
him when he becomes a man. If, then, we would make naturalists or scientists 
of our children, how can we better begin than by familiarizing them with nat- 
ural playthings, such as those that God has given them ? " 

Let the colors of the walls and hangings be neutral. Gray, shades of 
brown, blue-gray or terra-cotta will prove satisfactory. Denim makes a suit- 
able material for hangings, is inexpensive and either side of it can be used. 

Pictures for the School-Room. — As to pictures for the walls, choose 
none but the best, excluding everything crude in coloring and design. If it is 
not possible to buy many at first, select one of a mother and child — Raphael's 
" Madonna of the Chair " will answer admirably. Gradually add pictures of 
animals and birds in their correct colors, pictures of trades, such as a black- 



146 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

smith or carpenter at work, copies of such pictures as Landseer's " Cattle," 
Rosa Bonheur's " Horse Fair," Sir Joshua Reynolds' " Angels' Heads,"jy[urillo's 
*' St. Anthony of Padua ; " and portraits of heroes, poets and other noted 
people, among the first being that of Frederick Froebel. 

One of the best authorities on the interior of the school-room says : " In 
selecting subjects for school-room decorations, besides those of architecture 
and natural scenery, those illustrating peace, heroism and religion are desirable, 
and that which most faithfully reflects the true and simple, the strong and cour- 
ageous. The serious in art never becomes wearisome — it appeals constantly to 
the human soul. The saddest picture in the x\rt Palace of the World's Fair 
was daily surrounded by crowds of people representing all conditions and 
•degrees of culture." 

Each Kindergartner will necessarily make her arrangement of tables and 
ring according to her room. A long room has advantages over a square one, 
.because the black circle painted on the floor for the morning ring and to mark 
where the children stand for the games can be in the center, with the tables placed 
.at the ends. It insures better order if the tables can have a permanent place and 
the ring is left entirely free for the morning talk and the games. If, however, 
limited space renders it necessary to move the tables, let the older children 
sit at the tables, as they will not feel the disturbance as much as the little ones. 
One of the most common and probably the best arrangement of the tables is in 
the form of three sides of a square, the children sitting with their backs to the 
windows, the light falling over their shoulders upon the work. 

Always make the children comfortable physically before attempting to 
give them a lesson or engage their attention. If any child is so small that its 
feet do not touch the floor, do not let them dangle, but provide an ottoman. 
Sometimes a drink of cold water or the simple bathing of the child's face and 
hands, which gives a slight shock to the system, will do much toward calming 
its restlessness. 

Hours. — The usual hours for the Kindergarten are from 9 a. m. to 12 m. in 
public or mission schools, while in private Kindergartens the time varies from 
two to three hours. Dr. G. Stanley Hall advocates a short recess in the middle 
of the session to prevent overstraining the attention and to allow the children 
relaxation. Sometimes a lunch is brought and served before the games. Where 
this is done a recess is not necessary, the lunch-time allowing of sufficient 
relaxation. When neither lunch nor recess is considered advisable, if a child is 
tired (though care must be taken not to cultivate a disposition to complain), he 
may be excused from the games and sit quietly at one side for five or ten 
minutes. 

If the session is from 9 a. m. to 12 m., the following division of the time is 
suggested : 

9,00 to 9.35 — Morning talk. 
9.35 to 9.40 — Gymnastics. 
9.40 to 9.50 — Marching. 



A DAY IN THE KINDERGARTEN. 



147 



9.50 to 10.20 — Gift lesson. 

10.20 to 11.30 — Marching. 

10.30 to 1 1. 10 — Games. 

II. 10 to II. 15 — Gymnastics. 

II. 15 to 11,50 — Occupation. 

11.50 to 12.00 — Good-bye songs and dismissal. 
Beginning the Day. — At the time for opening the Kindergarten the 
leader or one of her assistants seats herself at the piano and begins to play 
some quiet selection. Great care must be taken to select none but the best 
music and that suited to children, in order to cultivate a correct ear and good 
taste. With this opening music the children seat themselves in the chairs 
which have been previously placed on the circle. The circle is the symbol of 
unity, and so the Kindergarten day is opened by the children being seated in a 
circle, acting together as a unit, a whole, a larger family of which the Kinder- 
gartner is the head. To enable each one to share in the responsibility, a quiet 
child is placed next one inclined to be boisterous, and an older one is given 
charge of one smaller and weaker. Each feels a part of the whole and takes an 
interest in helping ; a larger family life is introduced, and the social life of the 
world is commenced. 

While the children are taking their seats (illustration No. 381) the music 
changes to march time, played softly. To this the Kindergartner begins to 
clap her hands in time, the children joining. The healthful exercise and united 
action, conveying a sense of time and rhythm, soon have their intended effect. 

When the room is quiet, a chord is struck and all rise and stand erect, sing- 
ing a song about the clock and moving first one hand and arm and then the 




iLLusTRATioisr No. 381. — The Children Take Their Seats. 



other, or both together, to represent the swinging of the pendulum. There are 
many songs for this purpose. One was given in the Second Paper, quoted from 
Songs and Games for Little Ones. Another is : 

Tick, tack, tick, tack, steadily the clock goes on. 
Tick, tack, tick, tack, marking seconds one by one, 



148 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

Tick, tack, tick, tack, caring not for rain or sun, 
Tick, tack, tick, tack, still the clock goes on. 

The clock song brings to the minds of the children the idea of order, 
regularity, and a fixed time for certain things — in this case the opening hour of 
the Kindergarten. The mystery surrounding the mechanism of the clock, its 
simulation of life, together with the rhythm of its beat, makes it an object of 
interest to the child. Froebel lays special stress on the teachmg of order and 
time and its manifestation in Nature in his " Tick, Tack Song," given in the 
Mutter und Koselieder^ which teaching will be emphasized in another paper. 

"Good Morning" Songs. — Following this a "Good Morning" song is 
sung, which not only embodies greeting and courtesy to each other, but also 
calls attention again to the time for the Kindergarten. 

Good morning, good morning, good morning to all ! 
The clock points the hour, and we come at its call ; 
We're happy at work and we're happy at play, 
Then hurrah, hurrah for each happy day ! 

This song, with slight change of words, occurs in several of the Kinder- 
garten song books. The day is named, the kind of day and some record is 
Jcept of the weather, the children themselves describing the sky, the Kinder- 
■gartner in every case drawing out from the children what they know and not 
putting into them her knowledge. A calendar is kept in a convenient way on 
the blackboard or a cardboard, parquetry papers in colors being pasted on to 
mark the days, separate colors being used to distinguish Kindergarten days 
from other week days, with an additional color for holidays. 

Another " Good Morning Song " greets the sun as the center about which 
the Solar System moves, the source of light and heat. If the day be cloudy, 
the children play that they are birds and fly above the clouds where the sun is 
always shining. 

Good morning, merry sunshine, 

How did you wake so soon ,'' 
You've scared the little stars away. 

And shined away the moon. 
I saw you go to sleep last night, 

Before I ceased my playing ; 
How did you get way over there. 
And where have you been staying "i 

I never go to sleep, dear child, 

I'm shining all the night ; 
But as your world keeps turning round, 

It takes you from my sight ; 
And when it brings you back again, 

You'll find I still am here. 
To shine a bright good morning, 

Down upon the children dear. 

The Kindergarten Magazine for February, 1892, suggests that the following 
two stanzas be used instead of the last one above quoted : 



A DAY IN THE KINDERGARTEN. 



149 



I never go to sleep, dear child, 

I'm always shining bright. 
But as your world goes turning round, 

It takes you from my light ; 
And then I shine upon the moon, 

And she shines back to you, 
So that my light you often see, 

When hidden from my view. 



And as your world goes turning round, 

It whirls you into night, 
But brings round other boys and girls, 

Into my shining light. 
And so I shine, forever shine, 

While you both sleep and wake. 
And now you've rolled around again. 

My kind '* Good-morning " take ! 



From this idea of the sun as a center is developed the spiritual or religious 
idea of a central and ever-prevailing Providence. Thus, without reference to 
creed or denomination, the child is impressed with the thought of gratitude 
and reverence. 

Another ''Good Morning Song" much liked by the children is found in 



GOOD-MORNING SONG. 



■Words and Music by Caro A. Dugan. 




1. Good - mora - ing to the sun - shine,' - fair, That .lights this world ,of ours, 




Good • mom - ing to the sing -ing birds,- Good;- mom- ing id the flowers! 



Chobus, 



^^^^^^Pi 



^^^^^^ ^r^r^ 



Good -mom- ing to. the glad, new day. What - e'er the skies let. fall. 



m 



'^ t 'F' i-hf'^rTl P^ ^ 



^ 



ip4 






P^^ 



5=:j^5±^ 



If storm or stm- shine; it is sent, A lov - ing gift to alU 



p^ 



pi 



¥^ 



\rr^-^- 



-ti=%- 



.2. Good-moming to the friendly cloud* 
That bring refreshing rain, 
\yTiich patters out " Good-morning, dears I* 
Against the window pane. 
Chobus. 



3. Good-morning to the lovely snow. 
That lies so soft and deep 
.Above the little tender seeds 
In mother earth asleep. 

Chobus. 



Songs ajid Games for Little Ones ^ ^\ih\i?,)\Qd by the Oliver Ditson Company. It 
is given above. 

The Morning Talk. — Talk over each song point by point with the chil- 
dren, to be certain that they understand the words. The friendly greeting 
of playmates, the joy of entering upon a new day, the recollection of all the 



150 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



helping hands that have been engaged in making ready the bath, the breakfast, 
and other intermediate steps before coming to the Kindergarten, when properly 
called to his attention help to show the child the social interdependence of men 
and he naturally desires to thank the loving Father who planned so wisely for 



MORNING HYMN. 



Rebecca J. V^eston. 



D. Batchellor. 




1. Fa - tber, we thank Thee for the night. And for the pleas -ant mom-ing light, 
I 




^^^^^wi^^^ 






'*r' 



For rest and food and lov - Ing care. And . all that makes the day so fair. 
II III I 



M 



J=f=J= 



:2^ 



32: 



:=t= 



-^?- 



1 T 



2. Help us to do the things we should.- 
To be to others kind and good; 
In all we do iu work or play 
To grow more loving every day. 

ftma "Tome Sow-n Jlcaic Cocbsi," by per. F. B. OlUOH 



His creatures. Normal children are essentially religious and are made unhappy 
if they are not led back to the first great cause. 

Other lessons in connection with the sun allude to light as the source of 
color. The prism showing sunlight broken into its colors may be introduced, 
as may also Milton Bradley's color wheel and his color tops, the last named 
being put into the hands of each child to observe for himself. Dress materials 
and the shades and tints of flowers and leaves may be matched. The numerous 
combinations of color are thus studied in an experimental and interesting way, 
until the children become accurate judges of how much of each color is needed 
for any shade, tint or hue. This is accomplished in a truly reverential spirit, for 
if a gay flower is matched, does it not show how many colors the sun used to 
paint the brilliant petals? In fact, all tls^ work of the Kindergarten gives 
practical direction to the moral and religious nature of the child, because in 
the games, the plays, the gifts and occupation work, and in the songs he puts 
into play-practice his relationship to Nature, family, society, country and 
Creator. A '' Morning Hymn " admirably in line with this thought is given 
above. 

The morning talk may be said to be the keynote of the Kindergarten day, 
for by it the Kindergartner seeks to establish the unity of the day by bringing 
the children into loving relationship with herself, with each other, with society 
through interdependence, and, in all and above all, to recognize God through 



A DAY IN THE KINDERGARTEN. 151 

His works as the Creator and as the Center of the Universe, the Source of all 
power, knowledge, love and blessing. 

Subjects. — The morning talk must necessarily vary from day to day, no 
two days being alike. It may concern the playing of finger games, the seasons^ 
animal or plant life, an example of bravery or unselfishness or the choosing of 
familiar songs by the children themselves. For this no stereotyped pro- 
gramme can be given. Whatever it may relate to, the morning talk is with, and 
not at, the children. The wise Kindergartner studies her children, their needs, 
age and condition in life, and, using the common yet wonderful things of 
Nature and the experience of daily life, seeks to develop character by present- 
ing the ideal to the children in such a way as shall lead them to adopt and 
cherish it. In the words of Miss Poulsson : " Here, indeed, is serious, respon- 
sible, holy work for the teacher. No normal training, no school of science,. 
can outline her course. Only by continual, earnest thought and study and un- 
remitting seeking can the Kindergartner find out how to make all things serve 
as tools with which to draw such pictures of goodness and truth that the 
childish hearts may be attracted by their surpassing beauty and won to loving 
and devoted allegiance. Everything in the Universe has its inner meaning, 
which will help to delineate the beauty of goodness. Let the Kindergartner's 
intent, therefore, be to seek the moral germ (if it may be so called) which is in 
all things and ever hold the underlying purpose of the morning talk to be the 
awakening of the child's higher nature." 

Lessons in Discipline. — At the close of the morning talk a chord is struck 
on the piano. The children rise and take their chairs to the tables. Then 
some simple gymnastics are given to relax the body and relieve the tension of 
sitting. Following this the children form in line and march for about ten or 
fifteen minutes. This marching is not only good as a physical exercise, the 
rhythm exerting a quieting and order-inspiring influence and giving a firm,, 
graceful carriage of the body, but it contributes moral training as well, since 
the rights of others must be respected, individuality submerged for the time 
being, and a spirit of obedience and self-control cultivated, it being necessary 
for all to follow the leader. 

"Theirs not to make reply, 
Theirs not to reason why." 

Then comes the gift lesson. (Illustration No. 382,) During this the chil- 
dren are seated at the tables, there being several groups according to the in- 
tellectual development of the children, those of about the same advancement 
sitting together. As each gift has been described in detail, we will only say 
that the gift lesson gives both intellectual discipline and manual training. The 
child, while handling his gift with dexterity and delicacy, learns to recognize, 
compare, criticise and invent. The morning talk may be illustrated by the gift 
lesson, the gift being used to picture the subject to the child, while the facts 
about the gift itself are developed simply and naturally through its use. From 



152 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



half an hour to forty minutes is the usual time allotted to the gift lesson. 
This includes both distribution and collection, the children themselves doing 
the work and thus cultivating habits of order and neatness. "~^ 




iLLusTRATioisr ]!^o. 382. — The Gift Lesson. 



At a given signal the children again march, this time, perhaps, singing patri- 
otic songs or, with opened windows, take several turns around the rooms at a 
good running pace. 

Games. — Then, forming a ring, they stand on the circle and play the games. 
(Illustration No. 383,) As the games have been described in detail in the 
Twelfth Paper, we will only give a general outline of them here. A leader is 
chosen who indicates by some gesture the game he would like to play. If it be a 
special game, he chooses those to take part ; if a general one, all join in playing 
it. Then this leader chooses another child to select a second play. Choice is 
ge^nerally made of those who show the greatest desire to add to the general 
enjoyment. As it is not possible to allow all to choose a game, the method of 
choosing affords excellent moral training, especially to the only child, or the 
spoiled child who has been accustomed to be placed first as a matter of right. 
The games close with another march, some simple gymnastics or finger plays, 
the Kindergartner always clothing the old in a new dress. 

The Occupation. — Then the children return to the tables for the occupa- 
tion. The occupation applies the principles contained in the gift lesson. Here 
the child with unrelated materials constructs a tangible object, which result of 
his labor may be carried home as a present to some one he loves, thus foster- 
ing generous and kindly impulses, or, if left in the Kindergarten, other like ob- 
jects may be added to it from day to day until all are finally collected in book 



A DAY IN THE KINDERGARTEN. 



153 



form at the close of the year. During the occupation the children are allowed 
to chat quietly among themselves, helping each other and making suggestions. 
But each child must persevere to the end, for no unfinished work is permitted 
without adequate reason. All are encouraged, and good work — that is, the 
child's best effort — is always recognized and commended. 




Illustration No. 383. — Ready for the Game. 

When the time for closing arrives the children march to the circle and sing 
this " Good-bye " song : 

Now our work is over, over is our play, 

Let us to each other say, " Good-bye " to-day. 

When the morning sunbeams wake us from our sleep, 

We'll return in gladness, fresh and clean and sweet. 

Thus it will be seen that the Kindergarten day rightly conducted is a unit, a 
complete whole. The morning talk gives the keynote, the gift lesson takes up 
and illustrates the predominating thought, the games impersonate it and the 
occupation applies the gift lesson. The child is thus developed on all sides of 
his being in a simple, natural way through his divinely-appointed instinct of 
play. " Play," says the great and wise Plato, " is the business of childhood." 
Well-directed play is, therefore, for children the best preparation for the work 
which they will be called upon to perform later in life. 

A Week of Kindergarten Work. — The following is offered as a sugges- 
tion of a programme for the first week of Kindergarten work : 

Morning Talk : — Connect the home life of the children with the Kinder- 
garten, and draw out their Summer experiences. 

Finger Plays : — Ball for Baby, Counting Lesson and Merry Men. 

Prayer : — First Stanza. 

Songs: — Greetings, "Good Morning, Merry Sunshine," "Tick, Tack," 
Bird Song, Baker, Finger Song for Family, Shoemaker and " Good-bye." 

Games : — Songs for forming the circle. Wandering game (to get the children 
acquainted). Blacksmith, Carpenter, Squirrel, " Come, Take a Tittle Partner ! " 



154 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

Monday Gift Lesson : — Red ball of the first gift — motion, texture. 

Monday Occupation i^Stringing red Hailmann bead balls. -^ 

Tuesday Gift Lesson : — Seventh-gift circles, simple border pattern, 

Tuesday Occupation : — Paste the same design in parquetry papers on 
mounting sheets. 

Wednesday Gift Lesson : — Red ball and another of a different color from 
the first gift ; show fiowers and materials of the same colors. 

Wednesday Occupation : — Sorting different materials in the colors of the 
gift lesson. 

Thursday Gift Lesson : — Large ring of the eighth gift.- 

Thursday Occupation : — Sewing (in the circle). 

Friday Gift Lesson : — Second gift balls compared and rolling game. 

Friday Occupation : — Making a clay ball. 

For further suggestions see : 

The Kindergarten Magazine for February, 1892 ; Songs and Games for Little 
Ones, by Misses Walker and Jenks. 



FIFTEENTH PAPER. 

THE HOME KINDERGARTEN. 

While it is hardly possible to conduct the conventional Kindergarten in 
the home, still there is much the mother can do if she has the Kindergarten 
spirit. Everything that helps the child to a better physical growth, every- 
thing that cultivates obedience, truthfulness, self-reliance, everything that 
trains in punctuality and observation, is in reality Kindergarten training. The 
Kindergarten supplies what the home is sometimes unable to supply, either 
from lack of play room, the multiplied duties of the mother or the want of 
associates of the child's own age. 

There are many things to be said for and some against the Kindergarten. 
I am a firm believer in it, but when it develops self-consciousness, tends to a 
restless desire for constant change of amusement or is in charge of a Kinder- 
gartner who is not both naturally fitted and thoroughly trained for the work, 
then the Kindergarten does more harm than good. Mothers who were formerly 
well-known Kindergartners do not always send their children to the outside 
Kindergarten, but often prefer to gather the children of a few friends about 
them and give the work in their own home nursery. 

On the other hand, the outside Kindergarten is often a better preparation 
for the school life which follows, as it provides a more gradual transition from 
the free home life to the strict discipline of the primary school. Then, too, 
mothers cannot devote all their time to their children. They must be compan- 
ionable to their husbands ; they must attend to household, social and religious 
duties and give some attention to mental and spiritual cultivation. Besides, to 
do the other duties well, they must have time for relaxation, rest and recreation. 



THE HOME KINDERGARTEN. 155 

The wife and mother must not think of her husband and children for to-day 
alone ; she must do everything she can to be fresh and companionable for them 
and herself ten or more years ahead. The only way to accomplish this is to 
decide between essentials and non-essentials. Every mother must decide for 
herself how much of these things she is able to do. In cities it is generally 
wise to send children to the Kindergarten, but in small towns which are without 
a Kindergarten and in the country my advice would be to the mothers to make 
their children's lives as wholesome and healthy as possible and leave the rest to 
Providence. If there comes an opening for Kindergarten work, take advantage 
of it. 

Now as to things to work with, it is not absolutely necessary to have the 
exact Kindergarten material in order to develop the child according to the 
Kindergarten method. To understand this it may be well to restate some 
Kindergarten principles. The Kindergarten gifts and occupations are only a 
means to an end, the tools used suited to the child's age and strength, for the 
development of character. Character should be the aim of all education — a 
fitting, as said so many times before, of the human being to live rightly with 
God, Nature and his fellow-man. It goes without saying that for this right 
living the individual succeeds best who is sound physically, mentally and 
morally. Then, as we cannot divide life into distinct periods and tell just when 
and how each development begins, Froebel would have us begin at the begin- 
ning. So, as all early development comes through the senses, he arranged 
material which he personally proved, if rightly used, would meet these require- 
ments and allow the child to educate himself by his own activity — at the child's 
age called " play." The Kindergartner and mother watch his development by 
his manifestations and supply new and more difficult material to meet, direct 
and stimulate his increasing growth. They stand to the child as the careful 
gardener stands to the plant, ever ready to water, to prune, to give sun, shade 
or any condition necessary to induce this particular plant to reach its highest 
perfection of growth, flower and fruit. Sometimes the gardener with the sim- 
plest contrivances is able to accomplish as much and more than the man with 
every convenience at hand. In like manner we often see mothers in the hum- 
blest homes, bringing up children who are worthy of the honor and esteem of 
all who know them, because the mothers have been able to make the most and 
best use of every-day things and to find beauty and goodness in all. 

Frau Schrader's Work. — Froebel himself would have been able to con- 
duct a Kindergarten in a desert, for even there he would still have had the 
sand and sky. This use of every-day material is one great point that Frau 
Schrader, Director of the Pestalozzi-Froebel Haus, Berlin, is said to insist upon 
to her training class. In Germany many Kinder>gartners take service as 
governesses, and I believe the training classes there require their graduates to 
do one year's work in a family before beginning as teachers in the schools. 

Mrs. Susan S. Harriman, in a paper read before the Educational Associa- 
tion last Summer, tells what she saw of this simple home work when visiting 



156 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

Frau Schrader's establishment. The school, as is usual in all schools, is divided 
into classes according to age and development. At stated periods a ckild is 
taken from each of these classes to help form a group the members ot which 
are of different ages, this group corresponding to the home circle. Some 
young woman is put in charge of this group whose business it is to keep the 
children busy and happy, mentally helpful to each other, and to use some sim- 
ple home duty or occupation as a means of educational training. The group 
Mrs. Harriman describes was engaged with an ordinary home work-basket and 
through it occupation was found for each of the group. One child wound and 
fastened the spools ; another sorted and arranged the needles ; a third used 
the emery ; one girl made a dress for her doll from a piece of silk found in the 
basket ; another did some mending ; an older boy was given a pencil and paper 
on which to write a letter or do a bit of drawing. Mrs. Harriman, in comment- 
ing upon this method, says : " The value of this work as a means of developing 
the power of adaptability, of enabling a girl to turn everything to use and make 
it serve her purpose, cannot be overestimated. ' Eyes and they see not, ears 
and hear not,' describes the condition of most of us. We are looking for more 
favorable circumstances and better materials to work with when every day finds 
us surrounded with a wealth of opportunity that we overlook because it is so 
near at hand. Making the most and best of opportunities that are near by has 
been the foundation of many a successful career." 

Mrs. Harriman, speaking of the practical work of Frau Schrader's school, 
says that though situated in the heart of a great city, it has beautiful flower and 
vegetable gardens. In the care of these the children help as much as they are 
able, removing dead leaves, planting seed and picking flowers and fruit. Many 
of the German schools have valuable gardens where the pupils have practical 
w^ork in horticulture and forestry combined with the ordinary school studies. 
Mrs. Harriman describes a small class at Frau Schrader's school, the members 
of which picked currants, stemmed them, pressed out the juice and made it 
into jelly for their own use at luncheon and to carry to sick friends. 

A mother of my acquaintance who believes in interesting her children in 
household occupations often places a chair by her baking table in which sits a 
small observer who rolls and pats a small piece of dough almost as well as 
mama. An older child delights in making a genuine small cake when her 
mother bakes a large one, following the recipe but using spoonfuls where her 
mother uses larger quantities. 

Mothers' Clubs. — Most of the prominent Kindergarten training classes 
now offer a course of study to mothers. At the Teacher's College, New York 
City, the course is a short one of eight weeks, including with each lesson a 
lecture on Froebel's theoin^, the learning of songs and the practice of games 
selected for home use. 

At Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, the course extends over two years. The class 
meets once a week for forty weeks, each session being of two hours' duration. 
The gifts and occupations suitable for home use are studied and lessons are 
given in each. Songs and games are practised and applied to occupation and 



THE HOME KINDERGARTEN. 151 

gift. The Mother-play and Education of Man are studied with the view of mak- 
ing their lessons applicable to such subjects as obedience, truthfulness and pun- 
ishments. Experiences are exchanged and discussions take place on hygiene^ 
food, clothing and other allied topics. The art of story-telling is studied, and 
lists of the best books and playthings for children are made. Mothers may 
also have the advantage of the many lectures offered there on educational sub- 
jects and topics of the day. 

At the Chicago Kindergarten College the course is extended over a period 
of three years. Its catalogue has this to say regarding the "Mothers" 
Classes : " 

The first year's work includes practical work with such gifts and occupations as can best be 
used in the nursary ; study of Froebel's Mutter und Koselieder, which will enable the mother to 
grasp the principles of the system and to re-apply them on the innumerable occasions which arise 
in the home life; also discussions and the answering of questions concerning the study and experi- 
ences of the week previous. 

The second year includes work with gifts and occupations, science work for little children, the 
study of Froebel's Mutter icnd Koselieder, discussions and the answering of questions. 

The third year the lessons include advanced work with all the gifts and occupations, games and 
stories of the Kindergarten, the study of Froebel's Mutter und Koselieder and Education of Man. 
All mothers belonging to this department, who request it, are furnished with courses of collateral 
reading and are assisted in other ways to enlarge their knowledge and insight in this direction. 

The lessons in all three of the institutions mentioned are open to any 
woman interested in Kindergarten work, but, of course, there are no certificates, 
or diplomas given for these courses of study. 

The Chicago Kindergarten College also offers to assist classes or clubs 
formed in towns and villages at a distance from Chicago. These clubs are 
called " Local Unions " and, as far as possible, are given the same course of 
study as that carried on at the College. For this purpose the College has a 
special Secretary of the Mother's Department, who will organize classes, ar- 
range and superintend their work, conduct the correspondence with the classes,. 
and give information to all interested in this department of work. Further in- 
formation, constitutions ^nd plans of organization will be furnished any one 
upon application to the College authorities. 

I have given the above for the information of mothers, including those ta 
whom I have written personally explaining, as fully as possible in a letter, the ad- 
vantages offered them by three prominent Kindergarten training-schools. 
Better satisfaction is obtained by following such a plan and seeking aid from 
such a source, where the work is systematic and is in charge of specialists. 
However, if it is not possible to follow this plan, a home club may be formed 
among a group of friends somewhat as follows: Decide to meet at the house of 
each member in turn once a w^eek, or once every other week, for from one to 
two hours. Take up each time one of the Mother-play songs to read and talk 
about. Try to recall familiar songs, stories and experiences with children that 
bring out the same thought, studying with the Mother-play and the Baroness 
Marenholtz-Biilow's book. Child and Child-nature. Let each mother make 
notes during the week of perplexities and happy experiences with her children 



158 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

to relate for discussion and mutual helpfulness. Let a record be kept of these 
•discussions for additional light upon future child study. Learn songs, games and 
stories, mothers also giving the ones they have used. Select subjects and decide 
what use can be made of the gifts, occupations, songs, games and stories to il- 
lustrate those subjects. Programmes of work for the week or month would 
thus be formed. These could be tested with the children and afterwards dis- 
cussed and criticised from the standpoint of actual practice. If found unsuc- 
cessful, learn why. Fafnily excursions or familiar stories may be worked out 
in this way. Froebel's " Farmyard Gate " would be an interesting subject for 
a country child's actual Winter observation, or for the city child recalling his 
Summer visit in the country, and might include learning the names of the 
animals in the farmyard, cutting out and mounting their pictures, building 
houses like the ones they are kept in, finding out the food and care they need, 
what they do for people, etc., etc. There may be found plenty of material 
for stories, songs, games, gift lessons, sewing, weaving, paper-folding and cutting 
and drawing. 

Household Work. — Household experiences may also be used to good 
advantage. For instance, in the paper on the fourth gift, some illustrations 
were given of how the subject of baking and the baker could be developed. 
Commence with the germination of seeds as there directed. Select finger 
plays and songs such as, " This is the Way the Rain Comes Down," " Shower and 
Flower," *' Wake, Says the Sunshine," "The Farmer," "The Mill Wheels are 
Turning " and others. The " Baker Sequence " in the paper referred to shows 
how to use a gift in illustrating a subject. Decide what other gifts and what 
occupations could be used. Make lists of the tools used. Collect as many pic- 
tures as possible that will show any phase of the subject from the first prepara- 
tion of the field for sowing to the completed loaf of bread. To carry out 
Froebel's law of unity, show first the grain, then the loaf of bread and connect 
them by the steps between. Take only the main points ; too much detail is tire- 
some to the child and renders the subject confusing. Show all the grains used 
for bread-making and let the children learn to know and be able to sort them. 

The general rule, for either the mother or the professional Kindergartner, is 
to first get full information herself concerning the subject and processes. Select 
the main points that are instructive, helpful and interesting, keeping in mind the 
age and characteristics of the child. As the subject is presented, encourage the 
child to invent new uses of the gift and occupation illustrating the subject, to 
turn every-day materials to account, to look for pictures and suggest songs. 
This will show the child's line of associations and classifications, indicate his 
individuality and aid in correcting wrong ideas. 

The children might be allowed to accompany the mothers to meetings of 
the mothers' club. Devote the first half of the allotted time to them and then 
send them out of doors to play while the Mother-play is read, experiences 
exchanged and other meetings planned. The programme for the children would 
admit of great variety. At one time they could learn songs and finger plays and 
at another, games, marches or dances (see "A Day in the Kindergarten," for an 



THE HOME KINDERGARTEN. 159 

illustration of the Kindergarten ring) ; the work could be divided among the 
mothers present, one telling a story, another showing pictures illustrating a gift, 
and a third giving an occupation lesson. After many songs, games and finger 
plays had been learned, a certain number of children might be asked to bring 
pictures, and one at a time rise in the ring, show these pictures, tell what they 
were and give some explanation or a short description of them. Then another 
child might be asked to name a song, game or finger play suggested by the 
picture in which all could join. 

There are many games for testing the senses that might be used with profit 
at such meetings. For sight there are : First, the naming of the various visible 
objects ; second, the sending of several children each to a different window for 
a short time to tell upon their return what has been seen ; third, sending a child 
into another room to name upon return the furniture, etc., seen ; fourth, having 
a child walk past a table with a variety of objects upon it and recall as many as 
possible ; fifth, distinguishing between fresh and dried fruits. Insist upon good 
language being used. When a child learns to write, the result may be written 
instead of being given orally. If the child has been accustomed to recount his 
experiences, he will take great delight in putting his little stories upon paper. Be 
careful to have him omit personal details. The color top will be useful in this 
connection. 

Similar exercises may be applied to smell, taste, touch and hearing. With 
hearing the child may be taught to name the object by sound and also to locate 
the direction from which the sound comes, trying different parts of the room 
and also sounds in other rooms. With these sound exercises the musical scale 
may be practiced, first as " do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, te, do," then sing to "la" or 
"ah," and finally give ear tests on different notes, singing them to " la " or "ah." 
The Tonic Sol-Fa music system accomplishes much in this direction, its adher- 
ents claiming that most children can learn to sing, if training for the ear and 
vocal organs is commenced early. This system also has a series of simple 
hand signs to aid in the teaching. Books of first steps and directions for this 
system can be obtained from most music dealers. 

Books for Mothers. — For a mothers' club the following books may be 
recommended as comprehensive and not too technical : 

Mottoes and Commentaries oji FroebeVs Mother-play, Susan E. Blow D. Appleton & Co. $1.50 

New free translation; more readable than old editions. 

FroebeVs Mother Songs and Games, Susan E. Blow D. Appleton & Co. 1.50 

FroebeVs Poems and Pictures for Songs and Games, Susan E. Blow D. Appleton & Co. 2.00 

For the children. 
Kindergarten Papers, Sara M. Kirby Butterick Publishing Co. i .00 

Explaining gifts, etc. 
Child and Child Nature, Baroness Marenholtz-Biilow E. Steiger «S: Co. i .00 

Exposition of Froebel's theory. 
Reminiscences of Froebel, Baroness Marenholtz-Biilow E. Steiger & Co. 1.50 

Froebel's life and times. 
Cojitents of Children's Minds, Dr. G. Stanley Hall E. L. Kellogg & Co. .25 

Explains development of child's mind. 
In the Child's World, Emilie Poulsson Milton Bradley Co. 2.00 

Stories and morning talks for all the year round. References for collateral reading. 



160 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

Finger Plays for Nursery and JCindergarteu, Enilie Poulsson Lothrop Publishing Co. 1.25 

Songs and linger games. 

Merry Songs and Games, Mrs. Clara Beeson Hubbard Balmer & Webe^ 2.00 

Songs and Games for Little Ones, Misses Walker and Jenks Oliver Ditson Co. 2.00 

F..radise of Childhood, Ed. Wiebe Milton Bradley Co. 2.00 

Practical work with gifts and occupations. 

Kindergarten Magazine, 166 S. Clinton St., Chicago 2.00 

Kindergarten News, Editor, Henry W. Blake Milton Bradley Co. 50 

Devoted to stories, programmes, specimen lessons, news concerning Kindergarten work. 
Seven Little Sisters Who Live oji the Found Ball that Floats in the Air, Jane Andrews 50 

The following list of supplementary readers for children will also be found 
useful to Kindergartners and mothers for story telling : 

Child's Christ Tales, Andrea Hofer Kindergarten Literature Co. $1.00 

Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen , . . . . Ginn & Co. .50 

Leaves and Flo-cuers or Flint Studies for Vonng Readers, Mary N. Spear 30 

Seaside and Wayside, Julia McNair Wright. 

In three parts. 
Skyward and Back, Lucy M. Robinson School Education Co. .30 

These books may be purchased through almost any dealer. If purchased 
for a club, a liberal discount should be obtained. 

Materials for the Home Kindergarten. — In preparing for a home or 
other small Kindergarten, first secure a catalogue from some firm dealing in 
Kindergarten supplies. As there is such a variety of materials offered for 
some of the gifts and most of the occupations, it is difficult for the inex- 
perienced to decide just what to purchase. The following list includes only what 
is most practical. For a large class of children divided into groups, one group 
having an occupation while another has a gift lesson, supposing there are two or 
more teachers, it is usually sufficient if only one-half or at most two-thirds as 
many gifts of each number are bou-ght as there are children. For example, if 
there are thirty children, buy from fifteen to twenty gifts of each number, unless 
there is only one teacher, when it would be necessary to keep the children in 
one group. Here is the list : 

FIRST GIFT. — Six soft balls, standards of the six colors, to be made at home by directions given 

on page 33. 
SECOND GIFT— If for several children, obtain in bulk. 
THIRD GIFT 
FOURTH GIFT 
FIFTH AND SIXTH GIFTS —Omit unless there are children six years old. Do not give until 

most positions possible for the third and fourths gifts as mentioned in these papers on 

those gifts have been given. 
SEVENTH GIFT— Use all forms for the older children, but only circles and squares for the 

younger ones. Use the circles with the first and second gifts, the squares with the third and 

fourth and half squares with the fifth gift. 
PARQUETRY PAPERS.— These are used to repeat the work of the seventh gift by pasting the 

designs upon paper. Select Ungummed Coated Assortment No. 6-a in each of the forms. 

For later use get what is known as Ungummed Coated Assortment No. 6-b in each form. 

For small quantities buy Ungummed Coated Parquetry Papers in small envelopes. These 

contain 100. 200 and 500 pieces, as desired. 
MOUNTING SHEETS FOR PARQUETRY.— Style No. 2, 12 leaves 7 x 9 white Bristol. 



TRAINING AND TRAINING SCHOOLS. 161 

EIGHTH GIFT. — Paper box with looo sticks assorted from i inch to 5 inches. This is sufficient 
for a good-sized class. Colored sticks may be purchased if desired, but they are not necessary. 

NINTH GIFT. — Soldered rings. A double order is required for any but small classes. 

TENTH GIFT. — Lentils, a German bean, to be obtained at grocer's or seed store. 

DRAWING PAPER.— Dotted sheets 7x9. 

PAPER CUTTING. — Papers 4x4, ruled and coated, beginning with "Assortment A." Blunt 
pointed scissors. 

SEWING. — Use at first the simplest patterns in " Design Cards " 4x5^ inches, or square white 
Bristol, and draw and prick them at home. Miss Arnold's " Natural History Sewing Card" 
may be used for older children. Sew in the natural colors. Moderately fine embroidery silks 
are preferred, and may be bought at home stores. Cultivate a nice taste in color. Scenery,' 
buildings and animals may be done in fine black silk and will then resemble pen-and-ink- 
sketches. Use worsted needles having long eyes and blunt points. If it be necessary to use 
worsted, buy " split zephyr." The wrong side of the card must be neat. 

WEAVING. — Mats 4^ ^4H inches, stripes either )^ or 1-6 inch wide. It is best to order several 
packages of different color combinations and not to waste mats or have crude combinations. 
Mrs. Hailmann's mats are used for the babies. 

FOLDING PAPERS. — Squares 4x4 engine color, assorted. 

PEAS WORK. — Dried marafats from the grocery or seed store will answer. Soak and use them 
with wires or sticks. 

CLAY. — Buy at a pottery or use fire-brick clay from the stove store. 

BEADS F'OR STRINGING. — Buy 1000 of Mrs. Hailmann's ^ inch beads, spheres, cubes and 
cylinders. 

PEG BOARD. — Make at home, either using a wooden board or paper box lid, perforating the 
holes and using shoe pegs colored with Diamond Dyes. See illustration No. 342 on page 
108. 

COLOR TOPS. — Valuable and inexpensive. 

TABLES. — These are not necessary for home use. If desired, buy 4 feet long, 16 inches wide. 
Squared enameled cloth or ruled unbleached muslin tied over any low table is sufficient. For 
schools, use a table 6 feet long and 16 inches wide. 

Made-up boxes of Kindergarten materials advertised '' for home use " are 
generally unsatisfactory. 



SIXTEENTH PAPER. 

TRAINING AND TRAINING SCHOOLS. 

Before undertaking to become a Kindergarten teacher, a young woman 
should consider very seriously, first, whether she possesses the natural qualifica- 
tions for this work, and, secondly, whether she can spend the time and money 
for thorough general and special training without which she will find herself at 
a distinct disadvantage. She should question herself, and consider the work 
from the child's standpoint, making a conscientious self-examination as to whether 
she is the right person to assume such a responsibility. It was once thought 
that anyone could teach- little children, but long ago school boards found it 
most important to engage skilled teachers for the primary grades, since the 
work at the beginning makes itself felt through every succeeding grade. If the 
foundation is insecure, how can the superstructure be firm and symmetrical ? 



, 162 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

In preceding papers we have shown the need of the best care and training for 
the child from birth to school age. This should include, first, a better pr^ara- 
tion for their duties on the part of the mothers, and then a careful selection of 
nurse and Kindergarten. 

No person can really decide for another in any important matter, since no 
one can enter exactly into the thoughts, feelings and circumstances of another. 
What might be a great undertaking to a timid person would prove only an 
exhilarating excitement to one of greater nerve and self-reliance. All the out- 
sider can do, no matter how friendly and sympathetic, is to present reasons for 
and against any given cause. In all the great questions of life every individual 
stands alone and must decide for himself. Let him gather all the information 
he can, weigh it carefully, and, after he has decided, press on. It is not the 
purpose of this paper to discourage any woman from becoming a Kindergartner 
who has the natural qualifications and feels that she has it in her to do that 
work, but as we all want to choose what we are best fitted for, we should first 
ascertain what the work includes, and what are the chances of success. 

Love for Children. — " More important," says Froebel, " than age and 
school education, is the girlish love of childhood and an ability to occupy her- 
self with children, as well as the serene and joyful view taken of life in general. 
There ought also to be a love of play and playful occupations, and a love and 
a capacity for singing. It goes without saying that purity of intentions and a 
lovely, womanly disposition are essential requisites. The fuller the educational 
accomplishments of a lady, all the more rapid and satisfactory will be her 
progress in the science." 

The first requirements of a Kindergartner are good health, a happy, whole- 
some disposition, plenty of tact, and a real love for and pleasure in the companion- 
ship of children. No person who is sickly or morbid should ever undertake the 
care of little children. As to good health, although the Kindergarten hours are 
short, there is very little of the time that the teacher can set for her charges a 
definite task and leave them to it. She must be the guiding, controlling, 
impressing spirit ; she must keep out friction and insure interest and good- 
fellowship. If she is listless or uninteresting, nervous or irritable, her audience 
will quickly reflect her state of mind and be vastly more harmed than benefitted. 
If it requires vitality and energy on the part of a public speaker to hold an 
audience of grown people capable of forcing interest and self-control for an hour 
and a half, it is reasonable to suppose that to give out one's-self for three continu- 
ous hours in the service of restless, active little folks requires a physical and 
mental self-poise not easily disturbed. 

The Kindergartner, of all others, needs to forget herself, to enter the child's 
life, to adapt herself to changing conditions, to have true sympathy and tact 
(which last, by-the-way, is nine parts sympathy and one part common sense), to 
be a child with the children and at the same time to possess the dignity, wisdom 
and firmnesss of maturity. If physical pain is always present with her, or she is 
disturbed by distressmg mental anxieties, she cannot forget herself, and the 
passive education of the children is not what it would be if she had health and 



TRAINING AND TRAINING SCHOOLS. 163 

buoyancy, of spirits. A friend in speaking of two sisters, both Kindergartners, 
said : " One is nearer the ideal Kindergartner than the other because she has 
such an illumined countenance which attracts and holds children." 

A Kindergartner should be a religious person, filling the childish mind with 
the beauty of truth and goodness, teaching the child to instinctively seek the 
right and shun the wrong, and that life is what he makes it by his own work and 
the part he plays in it. This should be the result of the personal example of the 
Kindergartner, the atmosphere which emanates from her rather than the effect 
of direct religious instruction. Says one of Boston's prominent workers in 
regard to Christian character : " It is not unfair to say to the young women who 
are crowding the ranks of the Kindergarten to-day, that there can be no yawn- 
ing chasm between the public and private life of a Kindergartner. The foun- 
tain as well as the stream, the hidden pools and rainbow-hued spray, of their 
lives must be forever the same, whether in the noonday of publicity or the twi- 
light of home." In one of my note-books I find an important place given to 
these words : " To lead others we must advance ; to govern others we must first 
govern ourselves ; to develop harmoniously the character of little children we 
must perfect our own characters in every possible way." 

Music. — A pleasant voice in speaking and the ability to sing well are distinct 
advantages to a Kindergartner. The inability to sing may not debar a girl 
from undertaking Kindergarten work, although many of the best training- 
schools do not accept a candidate unless she possesses at least a spark of ability 
in this direction. If she cannot under any circumstances sing, she must be 
especially proficient in other directions — that is, be able to write or translate 
Kindergarten literature, go upon the lecture platform or possess great execu- 
tive ability. Two of the most prominent promoters of the Kindergarten move- 
ment in this country cannot carry a tune, but one has done valuable work by 
changing Froebel's obscure German into clear English, while the other, also an 
accomplished writer, possesses a personal magnetism and keen sense of humor 
which carry all before them, whether her audience be a group of little children or 
a large body of cultured men and women. If one can be a leader, it does not so 
much matter about the singing or playing, as these can be supplied, but even 
then a knowledge of music is an added power. In the Kindergarten, leadership 
is only held by experienced and cultured women who can educate the public 
and show the people who give their money to such causes why it is a better 
investment to add the Kindergarten to the public schools than to build more 
prisons and reformatories. Again, those who have worked their way up to 
prominent positions have generally passed through the apprenticeship of 
assistant, principal, supervisor and training teachers. 

If the Kindergarten is too small to afford more than one teacher, she must 
necessarily sing and play or pay another to do this work for her, and this is apt 
to be less effective than if she could do it herself. If a teacher can neither sing 
nor play, she must seek for a Kindergarten with some one who can do both, and 
thus be obliged to take a subordinate position. Even in a large Kindergarten 
with several other teachers, her group work, without the simple melodies that 



lU KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

often render the gift lesson so effective, will be below that of her more fortunate 
sisters. This fact would be especially noticeable if she had charge o^the 
youngest children. 

Another effective accomplishment is simple blackboard sketching. There 
are so many helps now in this line of work that patient, painstaking effort, with 
a good eye, backed by even a little skill, will suffice. The simplest outlines, if 
true to nature, are more pleasing and comprehensible to a child than elaborate 
drawings. 

General Preparation. — As to general preparation, a thorough high 
school education is the very least that one oughi" to possess before presenting 
herself at the doors of the Kindergarten training-schools. If the young wom.an 
has a college diploma, so much the better, for then she is more likely to have 
deliberately chosen the Kindergarten with a full knowledge of her own powers 
and of the work required. Do not consider any preparation too much or any 
accomplishment wasted. One can never tell when the thing thought unneces- 
sary will bring us the very object we are striving for. Choose the occupation, if 
possible, when a young girl, get as broad an education as possible and make 
the most and best of yourself in every way. 

We do not wish to lay down any set rules, but on all these points we 
endeavor to give the concurrent opinion of Kindergartners, in connection with 
individual experience. 

There are many Kindergartners now in the field who began late in life, but 
most of them did so to supplement or complete work undertaken long before. 
Many primary teachers, feeling the need of a knowledge of the Kindergarten 
because of its intimate connection with their own work, while studying have 
found themselves more drawn to it than to their regular occupation. Others 
have first studied it to teach their own children. It is said of the Baroness 
Marenholtz-Biilow, that she first became interested in the problems of educa- 
tion from superintending the studies of her husband's children. Prominent 
philanthropists and educators have been led back to the Kindergarten in an 
endeavor to get at first principles and the beginnings of reforms and in this 
way have become advocates of its cause. Froebel himself went back step by 
step from the higher grades (" higher " in the accepted sense) of teaching until 
he stood beside the infant in its mother's arms. 

Private, Public and Mission Schools. — The subdivisions of the work 
cover private, public, mission and training schools. As private schools are 
classified, those owned by the Kindergartner herself, by other individuals and by 
societies (boarding or day schools). By public schools are meant those under 
the usual public school boards. Both these classes of schools allow the Kinder- 
gartner more leisure outside of the regular school hours than do the mission 
schools, because in them she does not so often visit her pupils at their homes. 
Of course, every Kindergartner must plan all orders of exercises and have all 
materials ready and at hand before the day's work begins, and also allow for 
circumstances necessitating a sudden change of programme. She must study 
and belong to clubs and teachers' associations. 



TRAINING AND TRAINING SCHOOLS. 165 

In the mission schools, those supported by the charity of an individual or 
society or connected with churches or College Settlements, the actual teaching, 
though the most important, is yet only one part of the work. Here the Kinder- 
gartner becomes the visitor, friend, confidante and counselor of the parents, the 
instrument for relieving distress, finding work, arousing to better lives, teaching 
the mothers how to care intelligently for their babies, stimulating an interest in 
sewing, cooking and the sanitary laws. The Kindergartner's work here is 
incalculable because she first interests and wins the child and through him the 
parents. She has her mothers' club, where she cultivates a better social life and 
simplifies Froebel's teachings to the mothers. She must also be prepared to 
give reports of her work to the public and arouse its interest by writing and 
lecturing. All this demands a Christian, cultured and practical woman. We 
emphasize " practical " because a sentimental love for children or for the Kin- 
dergarten w^ork is the last thing needed. Anyone who establishes a mission 
Kindergarten and places the right woman at its head is surely following Christ's 
injunction : " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, my breth- 
ren, ye have done it unto me." 

The Training Teacher. — The greatest work of the training teacher 
lies not in teaching the technicalities of the Kindergarten system, but in broad- 
ening the lives and enriching the characters of those who are expecting to 
become Kindergartners. She must inculcate "the true spirit of Froebel's 
educational theories, as well as an enthusiasm for humanity and a clear con- 
ception of the application of these theories, to render these young women not 
only conscientious but intelligent Kindergartners." In most training schools 
the actual Kindergarten work is divided among several teachers, one, perhaps, 
supervising the programmes, another the gift lessons, and so on, at the head of 
all being one who gives the theory and mother-play, a woman whose daily 
example should carry inspiration to everything elevating, one who can really 
give her pupils that which will never become old but will go on deepening and 
enriching them forever. 

The life of the training teacher does not allow of much leisure, for, outside 
of her regular lecture periods, she directs the work of both the children's class 
and that for the older students, sees inquiring visitors, represents her school in 
the various educational associations and clubs, attends public functions, writes 
for the press, organizes mothers' clubs, goes on lecturing tours, attends to a 
larg3 correspondence and keeps in touch with all the vital questions of the day. 
All this requires a strong personality, vigorous health, great powers of endur- 
ance and continued study. If it were not for the complete relaxation and 
change of place during the Summer months, few women could endure the ner- 
vous strain of such an undertaking. 

Salaries. — As to salaries, those for private school Kindergartens and for 
assistants in public and mission schools, range from $300 to §600 per year ; for 
principals, where visiting mothers' clubs and other outside work is included, 
from §600 to §800, in a few cases $900 and $1,000, per year. For superintendents, 
whose work it is to visit and report on all the public and mission Kindergartens 



166 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

of a city or district and lecture before the teachers, the salaries are $i,ooo and 
$1,200. Training teachers earn from $1,000 to $3,000. They generally^have 
their traveling expenses defrayed when lecturing and receive additional fees 
for lectures. All teachers must at their own expense buy necessary books and 
magazines to keep up with the work and the times, must pay their own mem- 
bership fees for associations and clubs and traveling expenses to and from such 
gatherings. They do not profit by being too economical in these outlays. Con- 
tact with others engaged in the same work arouses enthusiasm and smoothes 
many a discouragement. 

The Kindergartner, to keep up to her best, needs pleasant recreations, 
good clothes, nourishing food and a pleasant home and surroundings. Her 
artistic and practical training ought to aid her in any home work she may 
undertake, but the requirements of her profession are too exacting to permit 
her, in justice to her health, to do much sewing or take an active part in house- 
hold affairs. She needs her free hours for outdoor exercise, recreation and a 
pleasant social life. Nor should any woman think that she can be both a Kin- 
dergartner and a society devotee. Late hours and morning languor are not 
conducive to the fresh and wholesome spirit she must needs bring to her work. 
But there are hosts of simpler pleasures that will be both enjoyable and profit- 
able and prevent her from falling too much into mental grooves. The Kinder- 
gartner, both for her own sake and for her children, needs a large life, change 
of faces, scenes and thoughts. More, perhaps, than any other teacher she may 
have, if she chooses, the society and friendship of cultured people. 

We cannot speak more strongly for adequate training than in the words of 
Mrs. J. N. Grouse, of Chicago : " The Kindergarten is as much a technical 
department of education as chemistry or biology ; as much a profession as law, 
theology or medicine. A young woman might as well expect to be a Patent 
Office lawyer or the counsel for a railroad corporation after studying six 
months in the office of a county justice of the peace, as to expect to be a Kin- 
dergartner when she has mastered the three R's and studied Kindergartning 
* by herself.' Better be a surgeon without preparation and maim the body, than 
to experiment with a child's soul. What we need and must have is better pre- 
pared students to begin with and longer courses of study." * 

Finally, the study of the Kindergarten develops '^ love and intelligence, 
infinite patience, perseverance and tact, while it demands the very highest 
endeavor and the greatest culture." 

Training-schools. — Most of the prominent Kindergarten training-schools 
require an entrance examination. The Chauncy-Hall School, 593 Boylston 
Street, Boston, Mass., of which Miss Lucy Wheelock has charge, has the follow- 
ing requirements for entrance : Ability to sing, good health, a love for chil- 
dren, a high school education or its equivalent and broad general culture. 
Applicants must furnish testimonials as to scholarship and moral character 
from the principal of the school last attended, or from some clergyman of their 



* Essay : T/te Kindergarten and its Opportunities for Women. 



TRAINING AND TRAINING SCHOOLS. 167 

town, and must be at least eighteen years of age. Ability to play the piano is 
desirable. The course covers two years, a certificate being given at the end of 
the first year for satisfactory work, and a diploma for the full course. There is' 
also a special course of one year for those who have had experience in teaching, 
embracing work in both classes. The course of study includes : Psychology, 
Froebel's Pedagogics^ Mother-play and Education of Man^ theory, gift work, 
occupations, songs of games, physical culture, science lessons, music, history 
of pedagogy, observation and practice in Kindergarten, collections of stories, 
original programmes, work for connecting the class and primary room. The 
expenses for the first year are : Tuition, $ioo ; books and materials, $15. For 
the second year : Tuition, $75 ; books and materials, $5. 

The Chicago Kindergarten College, 10 Van Buren Street, Chicago, Miss 
Elizabeth Harrison, Principal, makes about the same entrance requirements as. 
the Chauncy-Hall School. It has three courses, Freshman, Junior and Senior. 
The Freshman course is for one year, a certificate being given for satisfactory 
work. The Junior course admits those who have taken the Freshman course 
and also graduates from other Kindergarten training schools where the work 
has covered the Freshman course. These two years cover about the same course 
of study as the Chauncy-Hall School offers ; a Junior certificate is given for the 
completion of this course. The Senior course follows the Junior, and includes 
" Advanced field work in science," " Die Mutter tend Koselieder,'" pedagogy,, 
philosophy of history, programme work, and psychological study of games, and 
special work with assistants. Students who complete the full course receive the 
college diploma. There is also a normal course for experienced teachers and 
graduates of the College, designed to prepare them as directors of training- 
schools. This course has a special diploma. Branch classes are sometimes es- 
tablished in other cities to fit students who cannot leave home for the second 
year of College, and misses' classes are carried in the College each year from 
January to May. The yearly expenses for the teachers' department are : Tui- 
tion, $125 ; materials, $15 ; books, $10. 

The Teachers' College, Morningside Heights, New York City, has but one 
Kindergarten course, that of two years, for which the regular College diploma 
is conferred. The entrance requirements demand a well-trained voice, free- 
hand drawing, modeling and color, natural science, physical training, English, 
(based on the requirements of the Eastern Association of Colleges), algebra, 
geometry, arithmetic, geography, American and English history, and history of 
European civilization, physics and chemistry. The expenses are $150 per year 
for tuition, materials and books. The course covers about the same ground as 
that of the two other schools mentioned and is very broad and thorough. The 
students share the advantages of the many other departments of the College 
through lectures, etc., and those qualified have opportunities offered in the alli- 
ance between the Teachers' College and Columbia College, now situated near 
it. Its entrance examinations are more rigid than those of the other colleges 
named. 

Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, has about the same entrance requirements as the 



168 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

Teachers' College and has an excellent course of Kindergarten training, cover- 
ing two years. 

Armour Institute, Chicago, gives Kindergarten training free. ~~^ 

These schools, although by no means the only ones of national reputation, 
are given as illustrations of the work. The prestige of their diplomas is un- 
questioned. There are excellent schools throughout the far West, on the 
Pacific coast, at Jacksonville, Fla., and, in fact, in nearly every city of the 
Union, as well as at Toronto, Canada. 

In preparing for this, as for any other profession, it is always wisest and 
most economical in the end to get the very best instruction, whatever the ex- 
pense. In going to the large cities there are distinct advantages in the way of 
a wider field of observation and general culture. The student can thereby get 
a practical insight into all phases of the work. 

As to expenses, $500 will usually cover board and tuition for the school 
year. If one can live at home br with friends, the expense will be materially 
lessened. Occasionally this sum might be made to also cover clothing, but that 
is doubtful. The Kindergarten student especially needs light, free, comfort- 
able clothing, good food and pleasant surroundings ; otherwise she can hardly 
endure the exactions and close application of the course. She should not find 
herself a nervous invalid at the end of her course of study. It is wise to live 
near the training-school. Long journeys to and fro are wearing and con- 
sume time that could be more profitably spent. A change of occupation and 
surroundings for Saturday afternoon and Sunday promotes good spirits and 
health. 

The Teachers' College, New York, has a boarding hall near the College. 
•Comfortable places are often found in College Settlement or Y. W. C. A. homes, 
which, to the stranger in a large city, are likely to prove more homelike, refined, 
secure and wholesome in every way than the regulation boarding-house. 

The Kindergarten diploma will not exempt the public school teacher from 
the usual city or county examination. When changing from one state to 
another, another examination must be passed before the candidate is allowed to 
teach in the public schools. There is no certificate good for the whole Union, 
though there should be. 

There are Summer Kindergarten schools at Bay View, Mich., Glens Falls, 
N. Y., Martha's Vineyard, and Mountain Lake Park, Garrett County, Md. 



SEVENTEENTH PAPER* 

TOPICS OUTLINED. 

There should be a general outline, though not a cast-iron plan, for the 
year's work in the Kindergarten. It should be made out, if possible, before the 
school year begins after the Kindergartner has informed herself as to the main 
points of each subject, collected materials and learned the songs and games to 
be used. It is an excellent plan for the mother or Kindergartner to keep a note 



TOPICS OUTLINED. 169 

book, jotting down subjects as they come to her from outside reading or as 
they arise from the children's conversations and questionings. The season of 
the year and the climate, with their characteristics, products and occupations, 
must necessarily be considered when making plans. The age, condition and 
needs of the children must also be carefully taken into account. Do not forget 
that the Kindergarten is for the child and not the child for the Kindergarten. 
It is sometimes wise for the Kindergartner to drop her own preconceived plan 
for the time being and take up the subject suggested by the child. The same 
general plan may be used for several grades of children, giving the youngest 
less of detail than the older ones. Much of the Kindergarten work could also 
be carried on to advantage in the primary school, affording an interesting way 
of presenting geography and science lessons, while the reading lessons could be 
illustrated and their interests enhanced by the gifts and occupations of the 
Kindergarten. The programme here given according to seasons may be simpli- 
fied or enlarged to suit any Kindergarten grades, and may be adapted to the 
first three primary school grades. 

For Autumn. — Preparations for the cold. 

Fall fruits and nuts. Summer fruits, how preserved. 

Exercises with the senses in this connection. 

Jack Frost and his work. 

Preparations on the part of people, indoors and out of doors. 

Farmer, miner, miller, baker. 

Preparation by animals, as squirrel, etc. Migration of birds. 

Preparation of plants, buds formed for following year, falling leaves, etc. 

Idea of the world as a ball. 

Ideas of place, direction, distance, time ; record of the weather com- 
menced. 

Ideas of weight, form and color commenced. 

Develop ideas of animal, mineral and vegetable substances. 

Thanksgiving. Patriotism. Loving and giving. 

Mother-play songs of birds' nest and flower basket. 
For Winter. — Christmas. 

Winter clothing. Vegetable substances used for clothing, as, straw, cotton, 
hemp, flax. India-rubber. Animal substances used for clothing, as, silk, fur, 
wool, leather, hair. 

Animal and vegetable substances used in manufacturing. 

Food : Plants, fruits, etc., used for food ; animal substances used for food. 

Substances used for fuel. 

Occupations : Carpenter, shoemaker, weaver, tailor. 

Transportation : Sledges, wheelbarrows, wagons, street-cars, railroads, 
ships. There are several lines of work in this subject of transportation. The 
Kindergartner could take up some one of them and follow it through different 
countries, gather pictures to illustrate it, etc. It would afford excellent work 
for Winter evenings, and would prove interesting to both young and old. 
Things transported. Condiments and fruits brought from other countries. 



170 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

Exercises for the senses as to these eatables. 

Moon and stars. __ 

Other countries compared with the home country ; difference in living, 
clothing, occupation and climate. 

Jane Andrews' " Seven Little Sisters Who Live on the Round Ball that Floats 
in the Air^^ would prove excellent for this work. 

Water : Its forms in Winter, snow, ice, hail, etc., with occupations con- 
nected therewith. 

Animals in Winter, their covering, care and food. 

Wood and its uses, logging, etc. 

St. Valentine's day. Courtesy. Postman and other government messen- 
gers. Interdependence. 

Washington's Birthday. Ideas and love of country. 

Stories of Columbus and other brave men ; lives and childhood illustrated. 

Early American history. 

Benefits of good government in harbors, light-houses, buoys on reefs, 
armies, shoals, churches. 

Deeds of heroism, obedience, peace and order. 

For Spring. — Wind and its work, for plants. Commence the germination 
of seeds. Bursting of buds, sap flowing, manufacture of maple sugar. 

Egg and chicken, cocoon and butterfly. 

Sunshine and its work (heat and light). 

Coming of birds, building of nests. Young animals. New life. 

Easter. 

Occupations : Farmer, blacksmith, gardener, house-cleaning. 

Color, by spectrum and color top. 

For Summer. — Flowers, bees, pigeons. 

In the forest, at the sea-shore, on the farm, in the city. 

Forms of water : Rain, dew, vapor, steam, clouds, fog, rainbow. 

Fi ^hes. 

Grains and seed-bearmg plants. Pod-bearmg plants. Roots and bulbs. 

Occupations : Farmer, sailor. Making of butter and cheese. 

Different races, brotherhood of man. 

It would be permissible to change many of the subjects above classified to 
other seasons. For instance, wool may be introduced in connection with Win- 
ter clothing or with the farmer's Summer work of sheep-shearing. The wind 
and its work could be made to apply to the Autumn distribution of seeds, as 
well as to Mother Earth's Spring, 

Plant Lessons. — Edward G. Howe* in the Kindergarten Magazine for 
June, 1891, gives the following outline for plant lessons. There is much of the 
work that is too advanced for very young children, and most Kindergartners 
prefer to introduce the germination of seeds with the Easter work. 
September : Germination of the root. 
October : Root action and the stem and leaves. 



* Professor Howe's book, Systematic Science Teaching is published by D. Appleton & Co., and costs $1.50. 



TOPICS OUTLINED. 171 

November: Preparation of plants for Winter. How Jack Frost helped. 

December : "What we get from plants. 

January : How to tell our native trees. 

February : Study of twigs and buds. 

March : Starch, etc., become sugar, and buds open into flowers and leaves. 

April: Parts of flower and their uses. Mayflower and her friends. 

May : What happens after the flower fades. 

June : Fruits and their uses. 

Know the common animals by their names, habits, young, where the)'' 
live, food, covering, and what they do for us. 

Know the common plants by their seeds, fruits, flowers, leaves and stems. 

Know the common metals by their color, sound and use. 

By all means collect pictures, songs, games, myths and stories, and, if 
possible, tools to illustrate all this work. 

Easter. — Awakening. Poems, songs, games and stories. 

Little white snowdrop just waking up, 
Violet, daisy and sweet buttercup, 
Think of the flowers that are under the snow 
Waiting to grow ! * 

Preparations for Easter follow Washington's Birthday and begin with the 
first indications of Spring. The new and changed life which is being wrought 
from the old should be pointed out. Show the first pictures of Fall and Winter, 
bare trees, snow-covered ground, frozen streams, quiet forests. All are resting 
and sleeping, but are soon to awaken to renewed life. Then gather twigs and 
place them in water to show the first bursting of the buds. After that there are 
the frogs' eggs to show the tadpoles change to frogs, the cray-fish, the egg and 
chicken, the planting of seeds and bulbs, the early Spring flowers and pussy 
willows, the birds, the young lambs, the cocoon and butterfly. For all of these 
there are innumerable songs, stories and games. The list given in the note be- 
low is only a beginning of what may be used. The teacher should collect as 
many real objects and pictures as possible to illustrate the work. 

As to the gift and occupation work, we may represent : Trees by sticks, 
lentils or drawings ; the pussy willow and alder by sewing ; a stream by lentils 
or half-rings ; a frog by paper foldings ; the hen and chickens by a yard of 
sticks and Kallmann bead cubes ; a chicken by half and quarter rings and 
sticks ; a barn and chicken coop with the fourth gift ; a feed pail with a cylinder 



* From Ne7t' Franklin Third Reader. See also : 

" Spring Procession and Apple Buds," from the Kindergarten Magazine for April. 1891. 

" Pussy Willow," from In the Child's World. 

" In My Little Garden Bed " and " The Hen and Chickens," from Nursery Finger Plays. 

"The Maple Tree's Surprise," "Spring and her Helpers," "A Surprise," and "The Nest of Many 
Colors," from In the Child' s World. 

" The Storyof the Dragon Fly," from Kingsley's Water Babies. 

"A Lesson of Faith," from Parables from Nature. 

"At Easter Time," "The Song of the Rain." "The Alder by the River," "The Bluebird." "Pussy 
Willow " and " In the Branches of a Tree," from Songs and Games for Little Ones. 

" Garden Bed " and " Little Worm," from Merry Songs and Games. 

" This is the Meadow " and " Fussy Little Caterpillar," from Nursery Finger Plays. 

" Snowdrops, Lift Your Timid Heads ! " from Little Pilgrim Songs. 



172 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 

of the second gift ; birds' nests, eggs, fishes or boxes may be made of clay ; 
green grass with the peg board and one-inch green sticks ; balls may be used 
for many-colored butterflies ; the lambs and meadow, by the fourth gift sequence 
already pictured in a former paper (see page 57) ; the third gift is used to illus- 
trate " A little bird once built a nest," and " Fly, little birds, fly East and West "; 
the garden bed, by sticks or rings to lay it out, using clay for seed, pans and 
watering pot, making the tools from paper folding, sorting the seeds, using sticks 
for rain, a ring for the sun ; Fall seed pods by tablets of half-circles, half-rings 
and sticks. The sand-table may be used to represent the garden, the meadow, 
the fish pond, and the forest with all its trees budding out. Use the color top 
to match the colors of the early Spring flowers and leaves. 

Show how the old is everywhere changing into the new and beautiful. Thus, 
without dwelling on the sad part of death, the child learns from the bud, the 
seed, the bulb, the cocoon and the egg, about the after life. Through the work- 
ings of Nature he sees his own life symbolized. That is why Froebel enjoins us 
to study Nature and to early bring our children into right relations with her. 
We may tell them that our bodies, like the bud, the cocoon and the egg, are the 
houses we are living in for the present, but that some day we shall not want 
these houses any longer and then we shall go away to a home in Heaven where 
we shall have a new life and a new and more beautiful body. They should be 
brought to realize that all the world is beautiful and God is good. 

Joy conies, grief goes, we know not how ; 

Everything is liappy now, 

Everything is upward striving; 

'Tis as easy now for the heart to be true 

As for grass to be green, or skies to be bhie ; 

'Tis the natural way of living. — James Russell Lowell. 

Grass-mowing. — Coming on to Summer, we study that wonderful food, 
milk, from Froebel's Mother-play song " Grass-mowing.'^ To fulfil the law of 
unity we show, first, a bunch of grass, milk, butter and a child's picture. Col- 
lect pictures of meadows, farmhouses and haying and dairying utensils with 
songs and games relating to them. Represent, first by gift and occupation, 
the meadow with the grass growing, the farmer cutting and curing hay, the 
children playing near by at making daisy chains. Next, show the farmyard 
with barn, hay-mow, cow stable and water trough ; then, milking, the milking 
pail, the milk-pan, the cooler and skimming ; then, the child drinking milk 
last, churning and preparing the butter. With rolls from the baker we now 
have bread, butter and milk for the child's supper. 

The songs are : "All's Gone," "Grass-mowing," "The Farmyard Gate,'* 
and "Alice's Supper." 

Stories may be told about the cow from Miss Wiltsie's KindergarWt Stories^ 
and Morm7ig Talks ; also from Miss Poullson's /^ ///^ Child's World and Nur- 
sery Finger Plays. 

The Carpenter. — Contrast pictures of the heavy timber forest and a 



TOPICS OUTLINED. 17? 

^complete house. Show the different seeds that these trees grow from, as the 
maple, acorn, chestnut, and tell of the long time required for them to grow to 
be large enough to use in building a house. Show trees or pictures of trees in 
different stages of growth. Speak of how the sun and rain helped. Tell how 
men go in Winter to the woods where these large trees grow ; they take along 
sledges, axes and other needed tools. Then they build themselves a rude 
house, called a camp, in the woods, get their tools ready and when the first 
snow comes they begin to chop down the trees. Some chop, others cut off 
branches, and others haul the logs on sledges or send them down logging 
chutes to some river near by. When the ice breaks up in the Spring the men 
leave the camp and, with long poles, float the logs down the river to the first 
sawmill. At the sawmill whirling saws cut the logs into boards and then they 
are ready to go to the lumber-yard to dry or season, as it is called. From 
there the carpenter buys them to build a house. 

Represent with gift and occupation the logging camp, logging chute, logs,, 
axes, sledges, sawmill, circular and cross-cut saws and planes. 

These songs and games may be used : 

"Zish, Zish," '' Oh! See the Carpenter," "A Brook is Flowing," and "The Nailor"from 
Merry Songs and Games. 

" Sawing Game " from So7tg-s ajtd Games for Little Ones. 

*' The Cheerful Carpenter " ixovix Kindergarten Chimes. 

*' The Flower Basket," " The Family " and " Happy Brothers and Sisters " from Mother-play .. 

Some of the carpenter's tools are : Axe, chisel, saw, auger, hammer, mallet^ 
square, rule, plane, file, nails, saw-horse and work-bench. W^hat does he use 
each of these for ? To older children show more tools. Represent these by 
gift and occupation. Build a house from sticks or the building gifts. Make the 
doors and windows. A square paper folded once in half illustrates a window with 
two panes of glass, or an upper and lower sash ; folded twice in halves it shows 
a window with four lights. Some of the most important pieces of furniture may 
be made, and thus from the seed and the tree in the forest we have the happy 
home for father and mother, brothers and sisters. 

This is the Family^ all are here. 

Father and mother and children dear, 

Who live in the House with windows and doors, 

With timbers and rafters and roofs and floors, 

Which was built by the Carpenter^ skilful and strong, 

Who planed all the Boards so straight and long, 

Cut by the Satvs which, with buzzing sound, 

Were moved by the Wheel that went whirring round, 

Turned by the River whose flowing tide, ' 

Carried the Log that was rolled to its side. 

Rolled by the Woodman, who, every one knows, 

Wielded the Axe whose steady blows 

Cut down the Iree of the forest. * 



* " An Old-Fashioned Rhyme," from In the Child''s World. 



174 KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



ADDENDUM* 

THE CENTURY BUSY WORK. 

In the Kindergarten gifts, games and materials generally the child is read- 
ily taught to symbolize and typify the objects and relationships of Nature, With 
his lively imagination he does not find it difficult to see a house in three blocks 
or a flock of geese in a few shoe pegs. 

But there comes a period in the child's development when he grows meas- 
urably critical as to the points of resemblance between the objects of the mate- 
rial world and the pictures and symbols used to represent them. When this time 
arrives it is important that the objects and pictures provided for his instruction 
shall be the very best obtainable. He has also to learn that beyond and sup- 
plementing the pictorial methods of representation there is another, far briefer 
and more conventional than either, whereby written and printed words are made 
to stand for all things, material and spiritual. It is highly desirable that the 
child's transition from the simpler early methods of representation to this puz- 
zling and arbitrary plan of written words be made as gradual and natural as 
possible. 

Supplementing Kindergarten instruction by a method allied both in the 
principles involved and the materials used is the pictorial " busy work " for 
primary schools published by the New Century Educational Company, of New 
York and Boston. Let us examine a little in detail what it is. We will take, 
for example, the box of domestic animals. It contains eight neat, white cards 
about 3x4 inches in size, upon each of which is a picture of some domestic ani- 
mal, with its name plainly printed below in both script and Roman characters. 
These pictures are black-and-white reproductions of chefs-d'ceuvres by famous 
animal painters. Here is one of Landseer's dogs, great, velvety eyes shining 
from a face full of nobility and courteous wistfulness, painted with this great 
artist's loving insight into canine character. It is an ideal dog, and as such 
worthy to be associated in the fresh and uncontaminated mind of the child with 
the little word " dog " printed below it. Is it not a fine thing, when one considers 
the vividness and persistence of first impressions, that a child may thus all his 
life long carry in mind as his typical and first-recurring notion of " dog " this 
sweet and serene concept ? Can it do otherwise than materially affect all his 
thoughts about and treatment of the real dogs he meets ! 

The picture illustrating " camel " is a reproduction of Horace Vernet's 
study of one of these patient "ships of the desert," heavily burdened and stand- 
ing with pathetic resignation upon three legs, the fourth hobbled by a rope at- 
tached to his head gear, while his master, with slippers cast aside, kneels on the 
prayer-rug spread upon the sands of the desert, and with his face to the rising 
sun, offers his morning orisons. The history, religion, topography and tradi- 



ADDENDUM. 



175 



tion-hallowed customs of Arabia are compressed into that picture, and even the 
dull child can not but gain from it a just impression of an important phase of 
life in the Orient and a better knowledge of the uses and nature of the pictur- 
esque animal which figures so largely in its economy than he would probably 
acquire by a dozen trips to the menagerie. The donkey and sheep are borrowed 




from famous canvases by Rosa Bonheur, the goats are from the brush of 
Auguste Bonheur, the cows are by Van Marcke, the cats by Adam and the 
horse by Landseer. 

The box also contains twenty-four other cards, which, when properly ar- 
ranged, reproduce the eight above described, each of the original cards being 
cut into three sections, one bearing the picture, one the script title and the 
third the title in Roman letters. After the child has thoroughly familiarized 
himself with the set upon which the titles are printed below the pictures, he 
may first use it as a copy from which to rearrange the dissected set and finally, 
rejecting it altogether, he may depend entirely upon his memory in placing 
the titles under the pictures to which they belong. He will find that the proc- 
ess has a charm of its own from the manipulation required and the suggestion 
it affords of working out a puzzle. When the hand and mind work together 
neither so soon wearies of its task. 

The same admirable plan of association is carried out with like thorough- 
ness in all of the other sixteen sets. The first of the series for beginners is a 
box of the numbers from one to five, showing five ways of indicating each num- 
ber, viz.: by spots in domino fashion, by the Arabic figures, by the Roman 
numerals, by words in plain Roman type and by the same words in script. The 
pupil is required to arrange the twenty-five bits of orange cardboard so the 
numbers will read in order across from left to right, first the dominoes, below 



.176 



KINDERGARTEN PAPERS. 



them the figures, next the letters, then the words in plain type and finally the 
script, thus : 



• 


• 
• 


• 
• 

• 


• • 

• • 


• • 
• 

• • 


1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


I 


II 


• 

III 


IV 


V 


one 


two 


three 


four 


five 


o^'Tg^e 


^w^ 


^Alee 


jf<H^l 


jfi/ue- 



The cards while varying in height are of uniform width, so that when thus 
arranged all the methods of expressing any given number form a perfect column, 
reading up and down. By arranging and rearranging these the child fixes 
in mind all the customary ways of indicating the numbers under consideration, 
and is not puzzled when he finds "IV " where he might otherwise expect "4." 

Next in the series for beginners comes a box for " word building," in which 
four sets of simple base-words, such as "ill, ear, ate, ark," are placed upon card- 
board strips under which a variety of small cards, each containing a word 
rhyming with one of the base words, are arranged, by copy on a printed sheet, 
according to rhyme. Thus, under "ill " come "fill, hill, kill, will, pill." Bright 
pupils would after a few trials^ be able to " build " by sound alone, rejecting the 
copy. Thus do we pave the way for the poets of the Twentieth Century ! 

A box of script and print contains several six-word sentences — for instance, 
*' Little by little one goes far," reading down a slip from top to bottom. If the 
sentence is printed in plain type the chopped-up identical words composing it, 
which the child is asked to place alongside their fellows on the strip, are in 
script, and vice versa. 

A box of inch cardboard squares containing ten each of the primary colors, 
red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, also a like number each of black and 
white, provides material for the child to assort after they have been thoroughly 
mixed — an admirable color drill almost identical with that used in the Kinder- 
garten. 



ADDENDUM. 177 

The set of domestic animals first described and a similar one of wild 
animals complete the series for beginners. 

A second series for the latter part of the first year and for second year 
pupils begins with a box of numbers running from six to ten, supplementing 
that for the numbers one to five. The other nine boxes are as follows : Color, 
intermediate hues, with and without names in script and print ; color, intermedi- 
ate hues, for assorting ; common birds, excellent half-tone reproductions from 
photographs of the blue jay, screech owl, northern shrike, downy woodpecker, 
king-bird, cedar wax-wing, flicker and kingfisher ; oak and maple leaves, being 
reproductions in green from careful pen-and-ink drawings from nature, with and 
without the names in script and print; birch and poplar leaves, do.; flags of great 
nations in colors, with and without the names of the countries ; weather signals 
in colors, with and without their interpretations ; a Hiawatha catechism on the 
fifteen lines beginning. 

Then the little Hiawatha 
Learned of every bud its language, 

with pictures of the animals alluded to ; and finally, an envelope containing 
reproductions of twenty noted works of art for language work. 

It will thus be seen that a variety of practical and useful information may 
be derived from the material contained in these neat little boxes — information 
it would puzzle many a well-educated adult to furnish impromptu. 

Suitable for use after the above material has been pretty well digested, is a 
dainty first reader. Fairy Tale and Fable^ compiled by two practical educators, 
John G. Thompson and Thomas E. Thompson, and published also by the New 
Century Company. It dijffers from the usual first reader both in the material 
chosen — world-famous fables, myths, fairy tales and simple rhymes — and in the 
illustrations and printing. Thus, Rosa Bonheur's " Lion Family " is used to 
illustrate the fable of the donkey in the lion's skin. In the front of the book 
are printed in alphabetical form the two hundred simple words, nearly all mono- 
syllables, with which the pupil is expected to be familiar before beginning to 
read, and at the top of each selection appear the three or four new words which 
it adds to the child's vocabulary. The list is an interesting one, but two letters 
must suffice to indicate its character. Under "a" are classified : "a, an, and, 
about, afraid, again, all, always, am, are, as, at, ask," and under "e" the list 
simmers down to ''eat." 

Hitherto between the Kindergarten and the laboratory work of the techni- 
cal schools and higher universities there has been a wide and dreary hiatus 
wherein the learning of abstractions has replaced the study of the things them- 
selves. Such enterprises as that of the New Century Educational Company show 
that we are coming into a more intelligent appreciation of the value of Nature's 
own methods of imparting instruction, and are lending understanding ears to 
Froebel's beneficent invitation, " Come, let us live with our children ! " 




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